Daniel D'Oca

Daniel D’Oca is an Associate Professor in Practice of Urban Planning at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design. He co-founded Interboro Partners, a New York-based urban design firm specializing in participatory planning and community engagement. His academic work focuses on housing policy, social equity, and dismantling systemic racial segregation through design. At Harvard, he teaches urban planning studios addressing housing crises, community engagement methodologies, and interdisciplinary problem-solving. D’Oca’s research critiques exclusionary urban policies and advocates for inclusive design practices, as exemplified in his co-edited book The Arsenal of Exclusion & Inclusion. He has received awards for Interboro’s innovative projects, including HUD’s Rebuild by Design initiative and AIA’s Regional Design Awards.

His pedagogy emphasizes real-world applications, such as studios analyzing Los Angeles’ housing shortage and Detroit’s neighborhood frameworks. He advocates for spatial justice, arguing that design must actively counteract historical inequities. D’Oca’s community engagement strategies include creative tools like interactive models and public art to democratize planning processes. His work bridges academia and practice, addressing systemic racism and spatial inequality through both scholarly publications and applied projects.

• Awards: MoMA PS1 Young Architects Program, Architectural League’s Emerging Voices Award, AIA New Practices Award.
• Courses: Second Semester Core Urban Planning Studio, housing-focused option studios, seminars on community engagement.

Interboro Partners’ projects include the Campau/Davison/Banglatown Neighborhood Framework Plan and exhibitions such as Baltimore: Open City, which explored racial segregation through participatory design. D’Oca emphasizes demilitarizing exclusionary urban practices and fostering equitable urban environments through interdisciplinary collaboration and spatial literacy.