Dr. Theresa Williamson, is a biologist, urban planner and founding executive director of Catalytic Communities, an NGO supporting Rio de Janeiro’s favela community organizers since 2000. CatComm produces RioOnWatch, an award-winning bilingual local-to-global favela news platform, and facilitates Rio’s 1100-member strong Sustainable Favela Network and Favela Community Land Trust program. During the pandemic, CatComm developed the Covid-19 in Favelas Unified Dashboard. Theresa is an outspoken advocate for the recognition of favelas’ heritage status and human rights. She received the 2018 American Society of Rio prize for her contributions to the city and the 2012 NAHRO Award for her contributions to the international housing debate. CatComm was winner of the 2022 Brazilian Federation of Architects and Urbanists Prize for its contribution to Brazilian cities. Meanwhile RioOnWatch received a 2022 Anthem Award for its anti-racist reporting work, and the Sustainable Favela Network received one in 2025 for the ‘Favela Climate Memory’ exhibition. Theresa has published multiple book chapters and four opinion pieces in The New York Times. She has been cited in hundreds of publications and television. In 2005, she received the Gill-Chin Lim Award for Best Dissertation on International Planning on the founding years of CatComm. Dr. Williamson earned her B.A. in Biological Anthropology with concentrations in Environmental Studies and Peace and Conflict Studies from Swarthmore College, and M.A. and PhD in City and Regional Planning from the University of Pennsylvania. Binational—Brazilian and British, with a U.S. permanent residence—Theresa is based in Rio de Janeiro.

Public Speaking

2012-2026 public talks at the following universities and venues in Brazil, USA, Canada, Europe and Australia: American, Augustana, Berea, Brown, Carroll, Claremont McKenna, Columbia and Studio X, Cornell, Georgetown, Georgia State, Goucher, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Kalamazoo, Marquette, McGill, MIT, NYU, Pacific, Pomona, Pratt, Ramapo, Roger Williams, Smith, Stanford, St. Joseph’s, Swarthmore, Syracuse, Tufts, UCLA Luskin, U. of Calgary, U. Chicago, U. Colorado-Boulder, U. Delaware, U. Maryland, U. Melbourne, U. Pennsylvania, U. Richmond, U. Wisconsin-Madison, US State Department, Vanderbilt, Vassar, Villanova, Virginia Tech, Wellesley, West Chester, Western Michigan, Worcester State, and Yale.

2026 Bloomberg CityLab Madrid

2025 Cornell University Rio Favelas and the Search for Climate Justice

2024 Gil Penalosa Sustainable Favelas: The Key to Climate Justice and Thriving Cities?

2024 WebSummit Rio How should cities of the future look?

2024 University of Calgary Sustainable Favelas

2024 The Nature of Cities Keynote (Berlin, Germany)

2024 Norman Foster Institute (Madrid, Spain)

2024 Fiocruz Climate Health Observatory Olhares no Presente em Direção ao Futuro

2023 5th Habitat for Humanity Housing Forum for Latin America and the Caribbean Inclusive Responses to Social and Environmental Crises in Informal Settlements (Bogotá, Colombia)

2021 The Norman Foster Foundation Rio’s Favelas and the Potential of Informality – On Cities Masterclass

2021 Harvard School of Design Significance, Problems and Potentials of Favelas

2021 University of Vienna Rio de Janeiro: Mega-Events and Rapid Urban Change in the ‘Divided City’

2021 OurWorldHeritage Living Heritage: linking tangible and intangible heritage

2021 ABRASCO Vigilância Popular da Saúde e Ambiente da Covid 19

2021 Cities at Tufts Rethinking the Future of Housing Worldwide: Favelas as a Sustainable Model

2020 Rede Favela Sustentável Debate com Candidatos à Prefeitura do Rio de Janeiro 2020

2020 Melbourne School of Design SDGs, Urban Planning for Equity and Climate Resilience in our Cities

2020 University of Melbourne Keynote for ABP Symposium – SDGs, Urban Planning for Equity and Climate Resilience in our Cities

2020 UN Habitat-Brazil Circuito Urbano Fórum Cidades e Comunidades Sustentáveis

2020 World Habitat Securing land rights: Community Land Trusts in Informal Settlements with Theresa Williamson [United Kingdom-EN]

2020 SESC Brasil Desenvolvimento sustentável e territórios

2020 Federal University of Rio de Janeiro Forum on Science and Culture Favelas, pandemics and citizenship: Covid-19 dashboards in the favelas

2019 On Cities Workshop at Norman Foster Foundation (Madrid, Spain)

2019 Conferencia Internacional: Recuperación, titularidad y desplazamientos: Reflexiones desde la gestión comunitaria at Colegio de Arquitectos y Arquitectos Paisajistas de Puerto Rico (San Juan, Puerto Rico)

2019 Why Cities? Informality as a Way of Life: Challenges to Sustainable Urban Development at the University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, USA)

2018 ColaborAmérica (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)

2018 Celebrating Commons Scholarship at Georgetown University (Washington, DC, USA)

2018 Grounded Solutions Annual Conference (Pittsburgh, USA)

2018 Slums: New Visions for an Enduring Global Phenomenon at Harvard University (Cambridge, USA)

2018 American Society of Rio de Janeiro (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)

2018 Innovative Informality: Business, Society and Sustainability in and of the Informal Economy at University College London (London, UK)

2017 Lincoln Institute of Land Policy (Cambridge, USA) The Potential of Community Land Trusts in Rio’s Favelas

2017 EcoCity World Summit (Melbourne, Australia)

2017 Comparative Approaches to Informal Housing across the Globe at University College London (London, UK)

2017 Art, Aesthetics and the Future of City Life conference at Marquette University (Milwaukee, USA)

2017 CIEE (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)

2017 Inter-American Development Bank Working Group on Barrio 31 (Buenos Aires, Argentina)

2016 CIEE (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)

2016 Urb Favelas (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)

2016 Placar Final (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)

2016 The Global Summit (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)

2016 World Planning Schools Congress (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)

2015 EcoCity World Summit (Abu Dhabi, U.A.E.)

2015 Conference on World Affairs (Boulder, CO, USA)

2015 CIEE (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)

2014 CIEE (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)

2013 International Finance Corporation Emerging Managers’ Training (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)

2011 International Club of Rio de Janeiro (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)

2011 UN Habitat (New York, USA)

2011 American Society of Rio de Janeiro (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)

2011 University of Virginia (Charlottesville, USA)

2010 University of North Carolina (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)

2009 University of North Carolina (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)

2008 Wood Music Festival (Oxford, UK)

2008 Substance Coop Conference: After the Event (Manchester, UK)

2007 Swarthmore College Lax Conference on Entrepreneurship Conference speaker and roundtable coordinator (Swarthmore, PA)

2007 Rotary Club of Rio de Janeiro – Laranjeiras presentation on Catalytic Communities (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)

2006 Tech Museum Awards Showcase presentation (San Jose, CA)

2006 National Community Reinvestment Coalition lecture “A Peak at an Unassisted Community” (Washington, DC)

2006 Rotary Clubs of Clinton, Normal, and Sunset: multiple presentations on Catalytic Communities (Bloomington, IL)

2006 International Honors Program class visiting lecture (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)

2005 PlaNetwork presentation on Catalytic Communities (Washington, DC)

2005 Swarthmore College Political Science Department daytime and evening talks: “The Power of Grassroots Communities in Brazil and Around the World: The Potential of Connecting Them through New Technologies”

2005 Virginia Tech City and Regional Planning Department daytime and evening talks: “Poverty, Development and the Internet”

2005 Rotary Club of Rio de Janeiro – Saúde presentation on Catalytic Communities (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)

2005 American Collegiate Schools of Planning talk “Catalytic Communities: The Birth of a Dot Org” (Kansas City, MO)

2004 Community Technology Centers Network (CTCNet) Conference “Connecting across Borders” roundtable presenter (Seattle, WA)

2004 World Social Forum Workshop presenter (Mumbai, India)

2004 American Collegiate Schools of Planning talk “Introducing Protagonist Action Research” (Portland, OR)

2003 Association of European Schools of Planning presentation “Virtual vs. Face-to-Face Relationships with Communities in Developing Countries” (Leuven, Belgium)

2002 American School of Rio de Janeiro Economics class visiting lecture (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)

2002 American Collegiate Schools of Planning talk “Good Intentions Gone Bad: Unforeseen Consequences of Community Capacity-Building Programs in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil” (Baltimore, MD)

2001, 2002 and 2003 World Social Forum Workshop presenter (Porto Alegre, Brazil)

2001 Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM) Conference lecture “The Internet as a Community Catalyst” (Mexico City, Mexico)

2001 University of Maryland Graduate WebShop participant and graduate research presenter (College Park, MD)

Williamson, Theresa D. 2025 “Community Land Trusts as an Instrument to Guarantee Comprehensive Tenure Security and Ensure Public Investment in Informal Settlements,” Barrio Mugica: El inicio de una operación transformadora, edited by Felipe Vera, Matías Lince Marino and Francisca Rojas (Washington, DC: Inter-American Development Bank, 2025), forthcoming.

Williamson, Theresa D. 2022 “Community Land Trusts As Scaffolding for Continually Thriving Communities,” Community Matters: Conversations with Reflective Practitioners about the Value and Variety of Resident Engagement in Community Land Trusts, edited by John Emmeus Davis (Terra Nostra Press, 2022).

Williamson, Theresa D. 2020 “Rio’s Real vs. Unmet Olympic Legacies: What They Tell Us About the Future of Cities,” Transformative Planning: Radical Alternatives to Neoliberal Urbanism, edited by Tom Angotti (Montreal: Black Rose Books, 2020).

Williamson, Theresa D. et al. 2020 “Community Land Trusts in Informal Settlements: Adapting Features of Puerto Rico’s Caño Martín Peña CLT to Address Land Insecurity in the Favelas of Rio de Janeiro,” On Common Ground: International Perspectives on the Community Land Trust, edited by John Emmeus Davis, Line Algoed and María E. Hernández-Torrales (Madison, Wisconsin: Terra Nostra Press, 2020).

Williamson, Theresa D. and Chauncie Bigler, July 2020, Responding to the Growing Epicenter of COVID-19 in Rio de Janeiro’s Favelas, Consortium for Sustainable Urbanization.

Williamson, Theresa D. 2019 “Favela vs. Asphalt: Suggesting a New Lens on Rio de Janeiro’s Favelas and Formal City,” Comparative Approaches To Informal Housing Around The Globe, edited by Udo Grashoff (London: UCL Press, 2020).

Williamson, Theresa D. 2019 “The Favela Community Land Trust: A Sustainable Housing Model for the Global South,” Critical Care: Architecture and Urbanism for a Broken Planet, edited by Angelika Fitz and Elke Krasny (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2019).

Williamson, Theresa D. 2018 “Community Land Trusts in Rio’s Favelas: Could Community Land Trusts in Informal Settlements Help Solve the World’s Affordable Housing Crisis?” Land Lines. July 31, 2018.

Williamson, Theresa D. 2018 “The Fight for Rio’s Future” Americas Quarterly. March 21, 2018.

Williamson, Theresa D. 2017. “Not Everyone Has a Price: How the Small Favela of Vila Autódromo’s Fight Opened a Path to Olympic Resistance.” Rio 2016: Olympic Myths, Hard Realities, Cambridge: MIT Press. Andrew Zimbalist (editor). August 2017.

Williamson, Theresa D. 2017. “Rio’s Favelas: The Power of Informal Urbanism.” Perspecta 50, Cambridge: MIT Press. M. McAllister and M. Sabbagh (editors). July 2017.

Williamson, Theresa D. 2017 “The Favela as a Community Land Trust: A Solution to Eviction and Gentrification?” Progressive City. May 2, 2017.

Williamson, Theresa D. 2016. “Monopoloy City vs. Singular City: Competing Urban Visions.” Occupy All Streets: Olympic Urbanism and Contested Futures in Rio de Janeiro, Mariana Cavalcanti, Bruno Carvalho and Vyjayanthi Rao (editors). September 2016.

Williamson, Theresa D. 2016. “Rio’s real vs. unmet Olympic legacies: what they tell us about the future of cities?” openDemocracy. August 5, 2016.

Williamson, Theresa D. 2016. “Holding the Olympics in Rio Was Always a Bad Idea.” New York Times Room for Debate. May 16, 2016.

Williamson, Theresa D. 2015. “A New Threat to Favelas: Gentrification.” Architectural Review. May 30, 2015

Williamson, Theresa D. 2014. “Os Riscos de Título de Propriedade.” Maré de Notícias. November 1, 2014.

Williamson, Theresa D. 2013. “Cidades Singulares.” Casa Fluminense. October 7, 2013.

Williamson, Theresa D. 2013. “It’s Just the Beginning: Change Will Come to Brazil.” New York Times Room for Debate. June 19, 2013.

Williamson, Theresa D. 2012. “Statements from Rio de Janeiro.” DETAIL. Autumn 2012.

Williamson, Theresa D. 2012. “Reassentamento não pode ser retrocesso no desenvolvimento das comunidades.” Folha de São Paulo Op-Ed. October 2012.

Williamson, Theresa D. 2012. “In the Name of the Future, Rio is Destroying its Past.” New York Times Op-Ed. August 12, 2012.

Williamson, Theresa D. 2012. “Brazil is Missing an Opportunity to Invest in the Favelas.” New York Times Room for Debate. April 3, 2012.

Williamson, Theresa D. 2010. “The 2016 Olympics in Rio: A Community Plays Against the Real Estate Game.” Progressive Planning. Summer 2010. 184.

Williamson, Theresa D. 2004. “Another World Is Possible: The World Social Forum in Mumbai.” Progressive Planning. Spring 2004. 159: 26-28.

Williamson, Theresa D. 2004. “Aprendendo com a globalização: Fórum Social Mundial vai à Mumbai.” Portal da Cidadania. April 3, 2004.

Williamson, Theresa D. 2003. “Catalytic Communities in Rio: Virtual and Face-to-face Communities in Developing Countries.” Journal of Urban Technology 10: 85-109.

Williamson, Theresa D. 2003. “For a More Social World Forum” Planner’s Network. Spring 2003. 155: 26-28.

Williamson, Theresa D. 2003. “Pobreza, Realidade Universal.” Portal da Cidadania. April 9, 2003.

Williamson, Theresa D. 2001. “Um Olho Por Um Olho.” RETS. October 17, 2001.

 

Interviews

2025 The Future of Funding Impact Nested Systems, Resourcing Beyond Money, and the Power of Small Scales Rizwan Tayabali (Podcast – Malaysia).

2025 The Guardian How memories of clean water, frogs and fresh air could help save Rio’s favelas from future climate disaster Julia Carneiro (Print/Online – UK).

2024 Globo News Theresa Williamson on Climate Disaster and Adaptation Roberto D’Ávila (TV – Brazil).

2024 DW Favelas sustentáveis: soluções criativas de uma rede no Rio (Print/Online – Germany/Brazil).

July 2020 Shareable The Response: Crowdsourcing data to fight the pandemic in Rio’s favelas Tom Llewellyn (Podcast – USA).

May 2020 ORF Chat with Theresa Williamson on RioOnWatch.org (Podcast – USA).

August 2019 Land Lines Podcast Episode 4: Solutions in Slums: Interview with Theresa Williamson and Enrique Silva Anthony Flint (Podcast – USA).

May 2018 O Globo Urbanista especialista em favelas escreve sobre Vila Autódromo em livro da Olimpíada 2016 Lucas Altino (Print – Brazil).

July 2017 WBUR ‘Only a Game’ / NPR – In Vila Autódromo, Resistance Continues 1 Year After Rio Olympics (Radio – USA).

January 2017 New Internationalist Both hands on the spotlight for Rio’s favelas Ann Deslandes (Print – UK).

January 2017 Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas Relato sobre favelas do Rio na mídia internacional aumentou em qualidade e volume nos anos pré-Olímpicos, diz pesquisa (Print – USA).

December 2016 Rede TVT Levantamento mostra que falta aprofundamento da mídia sobre favelas (TV – Brazil).

December 2016 Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas Journalists in Rio de Janeiro show how to break banalization of urban violence in news coverage (Print – USA).

December 2016 The Guardian No more ‘rat kids’: Fighting the way we think about the residents of Rio’s favelas (Print – UK).

October 2016 The Huffington Post Nobody Asked Rio’s Poor About The Olympics. So They Yelled Louder. (Print – USA).

September 2016 Rádio CBN Rio impõe ao próximo prefeito o desafio de lidar com a questão habitacional (Radio – Brazil).

August 2016 The Development Set The Tiny NGO That Changed Reporting on Rio’s Favelas During the Olympics (Print – USA).

August 2016 BBC World Service World Have Your Say Rio’s Olympic Legacy (Radio – UK).

August 2016 TRT World The Newsmakers Rio 2016’s Legacy (TV – Turkey).

August 2016 WORT Radio Olympiad Impact: What’s Next for Rio and Its Favelas? (Radio – USA).

August 2016 Columbia Journalism Review Has Olympics coverage shortchanged Brazil (Print – USA).

August 2016 Edge of Sports The Other Olympic Rio with Favela Activist Theresa Williamson (Radio – USA).

August 2016 NBC Today Show Santa Marta: Matt Lauer tours one of Rio de Janeiro’s oldest favelas (TV – USA).

August 2016 CBC TV ‘Benefits? What benefits?’: Residents of Rio’s favelas decry exclusion from Olympics (TV – Canada).

August 2016 BNR Rio Favela Residents Have to Tackle Profit First (Radio – Netherlands).

August 2016 WHYY NPR Rio Olympic Games Preview (Radio – USA).

August 2016 NBC.com As Olympic Games Open, Community Mourns Demolished Neighborhood (Video – USA).

August 2016 Vox Inside Rio’s favelas, the city’s impoverished, neglected neighborhoods (Video – USA).

August 2016 The National No Olympic buzz in Rio’s favelas (TV – Canada).

July 2016 Bloomberg Google Wants to Invite You on a Walking Tour of Rio’s Slums (Print – USA).

July 2016 HBO Real Sports The Lords of the Rings (TV – USA).

July 2016 WBEZ Worldview / NPR The Olympic Bidding Process: Is It Worth It? (Radio – USA).

July 2016 Le Monde Au Brésil, des cités ghettos pour remplacer les favelas (Print – France).

July 2016 WDIV-TV NBC Detroit 2016 Olympics preview: Rio’s 5 Ring Circus (TV – USA).

July 2016 WNYC / NPR On the Media The Favela Angle (Radio – USA).

June 2016 Vox 2016 Olympics: What Rio doesn’t want the world to see (Video – USA).

June 2016 Guernica Opportunity for the Unknown: Ann Deslandes interviews Theresa Williamson (Print – USA).

June 2016 Americas Quarterly Inside Rio’s Favelas: The Fallout from an Alleged Gang Rape (Radio – USA).

June 2016 Community Digial News Interview with Theresa Williamson, Brazilian Activist (Print – USA).

May 2016 Edge of Sports Radio The Olympics and the Battle for Rio’s Future (Radio – USA).

January 2016 WORT Radio Favela Autonomy and the Rio Olympics (Radio – USA).

January 2016 Radio New Zealand Rio Olympics: corruption, police brutality and forced evictions (Radio – New Zealand).

December 2015 TIME Meet the Impoverished Brazil Residents Who Won’t Move for the Olympics (Print – USA).

December 2015 Vice The Rio Olympics is Being Used as an ‘Excuse’ to Evict Poor People from Valuable Land (Print – USA).

October 2015 The Guardian Brazil officials evict famililes from homes ahead of 2016 Olympic Games (Print – UK).

October 2015 The International Business Times Rio Olympics 2016: Local Brazil Governments ‘Resettling’ Thousands of Families Before Games Begin (Print – USA).

October 2015 Global Post #BlackLivesMatter has gone global. And Brazil needs it — badly (Print – USA).

September 2015 CityLab Rio’s Olympic Inequality Problem, In Pictures (Print – USA).

August 2015 New York Times Trump Hotel Goes Up in Rio, but His Views Barely Raise Eyebrows in Brazil (Print – USA).

August 2015 The Guardian Rio’s Olympic Village: A green housing dream, but a gentrification nightmare (Video – UK).

August 2015 BBC World Service Live from Rio, One Year to the Games (TV – UK).

July 2015 Folha de São Paulo Comunidade premiada é desalojada para abrigar Vila Olímpica no Rio (Video – Brazil).

April 2015 KGNU Radio Catalyzing Marginalized Communities in Latin America (Radio – USA).

March 2015 SVT TV They Want to Tear My House Down for 17 Days of the Olympics (TV – Sweden).

June 2014 France TV GRAND Soir 3 du mercredi 11 juin 2014 [42nd min] (TV – France).

June 2014 Al Jazeera America Turning Rio’s Favelas Into a Tourist Attraction (TV – USA).

June 2014 CBC TV Brazil’s World Cup facelift ‘militarizing’ the favelas (TV – Canada).

May 2014 PRX A Journey through Favelas of Rio de Janeiro (Radio – USA).

May 2014 Journeyman Pictures The Dark Side of Rio’s World Cup (TV – Netherlands).

April 2014 Rádio CBN Especulação Imobiliária faz moradores se mudarem de favelas da Zona Sul do Rio (Radio – Brazil).

March 2014 WBGO Journal In the Way of the Games (Radio – USA).

Winter 2013. Tricycle. This Buddhist Life: An Interview with Theresa Williamson (Print – USA).

December 2013 The Atlantic Cities Is a Favela Still a Favela Once It Starts Gentrifying? (Print – USA).

July 2013 NPR Worldview What Did Brazil’s Protests Accomplish? (Radio – USA)

June 2013 Urb.im Protests are Just the Beginning: Change Will Come to Brazil (Print – USA).

June 2013 NPR Worldview Protests in Brazil and Managing Europe’s Air Traffic (Radio – USA).

April 2013 SBS Dateline Reshaping Rio (TV – Australia).

Fall 2012 DETAIL Statements from Rio (Print – Germany).

January 2012  NPR Worldview As Rio prepares for the 2016 Olympics many residents…are evicted from their homes (Radio – USA).

June 2011 Edge of Sports interview with Dave Zirin (Radio – USA).

June 2011 O Globo Magazine Theresa Williamson Profile (Print – Brazil).

June 2011 Cyberpresse.ca “Les indésirables du sport spectacle” (Print – Canada).

July 2010 Swarthmore College Bulletin “Community Organizer Thinks Globally” (Print – USA).

October 2008 A Rede “Gestores comunitários ligados em rede” (Print – Brazil).

September 2008 RádioBras interview (Radio – Brazil).

October 2006 RETS “Para Compartilhar” (Print – Brazil).

June 2004 Estado de São Paulo “ONG Contra Pobreza Vira Tese de Doutorado nos EUA” (Print – Brazil).

March 2004 CBN (Radio – Brazil).

January 2004 Swarthmore College Bulletin “50 Alumni to Watch” (Print – USA).

January 2002 RETS “Catalisação Via Internet” (Print – Brazil).