I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning at Utrecht University. Previously, I held a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Institute on Municipal Finance and Governance, Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto. I have a PhD in Planning from the Department of Geography and Planning at the University of Toronto. 

My research focuses on intersections between urban planning, international development planning, governance and urban policies, and how planning tools and participation address spatial inequality in cities.

My past and current research provides a critical approach to understand social justice outcomes in planning focusing on three areas. First, I explore the role of urban policy in producing spatial justice and injustice, in particular on the right to the city and urban social movements in Brazil, on participatory planning in Canadian and Brazilian contexts, on national urban policy in Canada, and metropolitan governance in Brazil. Second, I explore the equity dimension of planning tools, including Section 37 in Toronto, and public-private partnerships in Brazilian cities. Finally, my research focuses on precarious housing, such as better understanding the complexity of incremental housing in the Global South, and the issue of urban vacancy in large metropolises. 

Please see my CV for more details. To get in touch with me, please send me an email. ​​​

Recent news
"Right to the City", in Oxford Bibliographies.

New article: Common property in the City: Curbing Urban Vacancy in São Paulo.

New article: Master planning 'as a verb': Enforcing participatory planning through the Brazilian courts.

New article: Activist Co-production for the Right to Occupy, Hold Ground, and Upgrade.

New chapter: Brazil's urban reform movement and urban transformations in perspective

New article: Pathways to 
assisted self-help housing: the evolution of Mexico's housing governability system