Leadership

Founder’s Statement

American cities are in desperate need of new design and development practices that are inclusive and participatory. Citizens are pleading for an opportunity to make their communities growthful and safe, and places that are affordable. I remember very distinctly the affect it had on me when I first saw poverty in Baltimore where I grew up. Primarily children of color, my age, barefoot, living in cold water apartments and buildings, in some cases with no glass in the windows, were conditions that defied my understanding.

I decided to become an architect, a profession, I felt, that would enable me to change this - that is poverty. And I was excited by cities and their vibrancy and how they worked. I studied cities in school and in person, and looked for architects who were working at an urban scale. I wanted to work on housing and infrastructure that as a young person I saw a need for as I walked around Baltimore. I also felt it was our responsibility for creating the resources that would support cities to grow so it was with a dual purpose that I pursued architecture - creating the environment for design to happen and design itself.

I started Center for Developing Cities as a response to people who want to collaborate to create the city they want. Center for Developing Cities is part platform and part place where groups have support and resources to design their cities. Developing cities today means building environments where people can create new things together. The self-organizing activities that so many ordinary citizens are undertaking today to create and rebuild their communities and cities deserve greater support.

Housing is unaffordable to millions of Americans and they live frightened of losing their homes. The emotional lives of so many poor and working people are fragile. Infrastructure is lacking and degrading the quality of life and limiting people’s mobility to build their lives, families, and communities. Vast numbers of Americans feel disenfranchised. Today, when I look again at Baltimore, the poverty, blighted areas, and lack of opportunity for poor youth has remained largely unchanged since the 1960’s.

As an architect and organizer, I bring a unique history of accomplishment and sensitivity to what it takes to build environments for varied interests with diverse people who want to create something new and make places that work for all.

Board of Directors

Harriet Hoffman, Consultant, Nonprofit Organizational Development; CfDC Secretary/Treasurer

Carolyn Kresky, TV Broadcast Journalist - retired

Richard Sokolow, Director of Research, Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP

Joan DeCollibus, CEO, ruffina.nyc 

Senior Advisor

Bonny L. Gildin, Ph.D.

Biography

After completing architecture school, Douglas Balder met Fred Newman, PhD, a public philosopher and intellectual, activist, organizer, and community builder, and began working with Newman and other organizers. Newman was process oriented and his vision was to create the tools that people need to grow and develop, and create their lives, communities, and country.   

One of the products to have emerged over three decades is the independent, privately funded All Stars Project, an afterschool development program and new approach to engaging poverty. It is a partnership of inner city youth and caring adults. It employs a performance-based approach to developmental learning. Balder helped build the All Stars from its beginning by cultivating the donor base. Having grown up in Baltimore and seeing systemic racism and poverty, he felt that development is needed if intractable,  systemic social and cultural problems are to be addressed. Currently, he serves on the national board and provides pro-bono architectural services. 

During this time, Balder also worked with Ralph Appelbaum Associates, the world’s leading interpretive museum designer, designing and building museums and permanent museum exhibitions. Some of the world class museums he designed include the dinosaur/paleontology halls at the American Museum of Natural History, New York City; Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center, Moscow; Boris Yeltsin Presidential Center, Ekaterinburg; and Museum of Pre-History, Taitung, Taiwan. His work garnered many international design awards. In 2017, the Kenneth Hudson Award was given to the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Center “in recognition of the most unusual and daring achievement that challenges common perceptions of the role of museums in society.” 

His design credits also include the Scott Flamm Center for Afterschool Development, Newark, New Jersey (awarded New Jersey AIA Silver for Adaptive Re-use, 2013); All Stars Project National Headquarters, New York City; Concept for Re-Envisioning Public Housing, New York City.  

He has worked with museums and science centers building their capacity and supporting institutional development and growth. Projects include Freetown Village, Indianapolis; Morehead Planetarium and Science Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Wisconsin History Museum, Madison. 

Currently, Balder leads the Center for Developing Cities, an organizing and design initiative to advocate for residents of public housing and steer a democratic approach to “what is possible in creating the cities we want” as the future of public housing is uncertain. He is active with the Committee for Independent Community Action, analyzing the current administration's Housing New York plan and strategizing for how to protect and re-envision New York City Housing Authority developments for its residents. 

In 2017, Balder joined the advisory board of Open Style Lab. established in 2014. Open Style Lab (OSL) is 501(c)3 organization dedicated to creating functional wearable solutions for people of all abilities without compromising on style.