Cynthia Nikitin has led numerous large-scale multi-sectoral place-based community-led projects during her twenty seven years with Project for Public Spaces. Cynthia’s technical expertise stretches from the development of downtown master plans and transit facility and station area enhancement projects, to the creation of corridor-wide transportation and land use strategies, to the development of creative placemaking initiatives, the coalescing of government buildings, libraries and cultural institutions into civic centers, using placemaking to create safer and healthier cities and upgrade informal settlements in the developing world. Currently, she is developing Resilient Places, a new PPS initiative that promotes a place-based people-centered approach to disaster recovery and mitigation which seeks to build social resilience and civic infrastructure.