Doordan is an architectural & design historian and co-editor of Design Issues, recognized as one of the leading academic journals devoted to design studies. Doordan has published books and articles on a wide variety of topics dealing with twentieth-century architecture and design including political themes in architecture, the impact of new materials, and the evolution of exhibition design techniques. He is the author of Twentieth Century Architecture, a survey text of this subject, and Building Modern Italy: Italian Architecture 1914-1936 and the editor of Design History: An Anthology. He has served as an exhibition consultant and contributed catalog essays for architecture and design exhibitions organized by The Art Institute of Chicago, The Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, The Guggenheim Museum in New York City, The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Toledo Art Museum, and the Wolfsonian-FIU Museum in Miami Beach, Florida.