Theresa Williamson’s Bio

Theresa Williamson, Ph.D. is a biologist and city planner and founding executive director of Catalytic Communities, an NGO working to support Rio de Janeiro’s favelas through asset-based community development since 2000. CatComm produces RioOnWatch, a local-to-global favela news platform, and Rio’s Sustainable Favela Network and Favela Community Land Trust program. Theresa is an advocate for the recognition of the favelas’ heritage status and their residents’ right to be treated as full citizens. 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 and RioOnWatch received a 2022 Silver Anthem Award and Brazilian Megafone Award for its anti-racist reporting work.

Mid-Length Bio

Theresa Williamson, Ph.D. is a city planner, community organizer, environmentalist and founding executive director of Catalytic Communities, an award-winning NGO providing strategic support to Rio de Janeiro’s favelas since 2000. She is an advocate for the recognition of favelas’ heritage status and resident rights, with multiple book chapters and four op-eds in The New York Times. Dr. Williamson earned her B.A. in Biological Anthropology from Swarthmore College and PhD in City and Regional Planning from the University of Pennsylvania. CatComm’s asset-based programs, created and maintained in close partnership with favela partners, include RioOnWatch (bilingual favela news platform), the Sustainable Favela Network (socio-environmental solutions in over 100 favelas), Favela Community Land Trust (land and development rights), and Favelas Unified Dashboard (crowdsourced community research from Covid to water/energy rights). Awards include: Brazilian Federation of Architects and Urbanists prize for contribution to Brazilian cities, Megaphone Award for independent investigative reporting, Anthem Award for Best Local Awareness Program, American Society of Rio prize for contributions to the city, NAHRO Award for contributions to the international housing debate.

Long Bio

Winner of the 2012 National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials (NAHRO) John D. Lange International Award for her contribution to the international housing debate and the 2018 Ralph Greenberg Award from the Rio de Janeiro American Society for her “unselfish contribution of time and effort to the betterment of the Rio de Janeiro community,” with four Opinion pieces published in The New York Times in 2012, 2013, and 2016, and Americas Quarterly, urban planner and Catalytic Communities (CatComm) founder Theresa Williamson is an outspoken and respected advocate and informant in support of Rio de Janeiro’s favelas.

She has been featured in Guernica, O Globo, Marie Claire, Yo Dona (Spain), and Tricycle, and quoted in The New York Times, The Guardian, Al Jazeera, Le Monde, NPR’s On the Media, Rádio CBN (Brazil), SBS Dateline (Australia), The Atlantic Cities, BBC World Service (UK), CBC TV (Canada), Next American City, The Independent (UK), El Mondo (Spain), Folha de São Paulo (Brazil), O Globo (Brazil), Places: The Design Observer, Architectural Record, Revista Piauí (Brazil), 45 Minuuttia (Finland), The Washington Post, NBC, and numerous other outlets.

Watch Theresa’s August 2016 participation on NBC’s Today Show, BBC World, and TRT World (Turkey), as well as July’s HBO Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel and Vox short doc.

With a small and agile team coordinating a network with hundreds of close collaborators at efficiently-designed Catalytic Communities, since 2000 Theresa has worked as the organization’s Executive Director to promote a more creative, inclusive and empowering integration between the city’s informal and formal communities, in which the city’s favelas are recognized for their heritage status and their residents fully served as equal citizens.

Theresa is also Editor-in-Chief of RioOnWatch, CatComm’s internationally recognized hyperlocal-to-global watchdog news site and favela news service with 2016 accolades in the form of a Webby award honoree recognition, a The Development Set piece proclaiming RioOnWatch “changed reporting on the favelas during the Olympics,” and recognition for its work in preparing journalists for the Olympics from the International Journalists’ Reporting Network. Since 2010 RioOnWatch has been tracking the increasingly intense impacts of the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympic Games on Rio’s favelas, providing a global platform for often-ignored community perspectives that hold valuable insight for cities across the world. The site has established itself as necessary tool for community organizers in Rio, reporters from around the world covering the city, and researchers on Latin America and is now being documented in a RioOnWatch Replication Manual for Organizers.

While launching and running CatComm over the past two decades, Theresa has also worked to bridge the academic-practitioner divide by producing academic pieces and working with researchers in the city’s favelas. In May 2004 she received her Ph.D. from the Department of City and Regional Planning at the University of Pennsylvania. Entitled Catalytic Communities: The Birth of a Dot Org, her dissertation won the 2005 Gill-Chin Lim Award for Best Dissertation on International Planning and was one of three finalists for the 2004 Barclay Gibbs Jones Award for the Best Dissertation in Planning. Theresa is an advisory board member with the University of Warwick’s Understanding Risks and Building Enhanced Capabilities in Latin American Cities (URBE Latam) program, the Consortium for Sustainable Urbanization and a board member with the Center for Community Land Trust Innovation.

Raised in Rio and Washington, DC, Theresa is a dual Brazilian and British citizen and lives in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Theresa is available for public lectures in Rio de Janeiro or during her annual North American University Tour. Her email is theresa [at] catcomm [dot] org.

Publications

• 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. 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 “Proporcionar seguridad de tenencia para los actuales habitantes del barrio,” Barrio 31, los inicios de una operación transformadora, edited by Agustina Gonzalez Cid (Washington, DC: Inter-American Development Bank, 2019), forthcoming.
• 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

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

Speaking Engagements

2012-2020 University Tour talks given on the following campuses across the United States: American, Augustana, Berea, Brown, Carroll, Claremont McKenna, Columbia and Studio X, 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, UCLA Luskin, U. Chicago, U. Colorado-Boulder, U. Delaware, U. Maryland, U. Pennsylvania, U. Richmond, U. Wisconsin-Madison, Vanderbilt, Vassar, Villanova, Virginia Tech, Wellesley, West Chester, Western Michigan, Worcester State, and Yale.

• 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) 
• 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)

 

Radio & TV stints, Op-Eds & Opinion Pieces with/by Theresa Williamson

• Land Lines – July 31, 2018: Community Land Trusts in Rio’s Favelas: Could Community Land Trusts in Informal Settlements Help Solve the World’s Affordable Housing Crisis? by Theresa Williamson [USA-EN]
• O Globo – May 24, 2018: Urbanista especialista em favelas escreve sobre Vila Autódromo em livro da Olimpíada 2016 by Lucas Altino [Click here for English translation] [Brazil-PT]
• Americas Quarterly – March 21, 2018: The Fight for Rio’s Future by Theresa Williamson [USA-EN]
• Latin America Bureau – March 18, 2018: Marielle: she inspired all of us by Jo Griffin [UK-EN]
• CityLab – February 23, 2018: Letting Slum Residents Control Their Own Destiny by Anthony Flint [USA-EN]
• Global Public Affairs at UCLA Luskin – January 18, 2018 Theresa Williamson on Catalytic Communities [VIDEO] [USA-EN]
• Lincoln Institute of Land Policy Blog – December 20, 2017: The potential of community land trusts in Rio’s favelas [VIDEO] by Anthony Flint [USA-EN]
• Brookings Cafeteria – October 20, 2017: The real cost of hosting the 2016 Rio Olympics by Bill Finan [PODCAST] [USA-EN]
• WBUR ‘Only a Game’ / NPR – July 21, 2017: In Vila Autódromo, Resistance Continues 1 Year After Rio Olympics by Bill Littlefield [USA-EN]
• Progressive City – May 2, 2017 The Favela as a Community Land Trust: A Solution to Eviction and Gentrification? by David Robertson and Theresa Williamson [USA-EN]
• Humans of New York – March 9, 2017 Rio was the biggest slave port in world history by Theresa Williamson [USA-EN]
• New Internationalist – January 19, 2017 Both hands on the spotlight for Rio’s favelas Ann Deslandes [UK-EN]
• Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas – January 11, 2017 Relato sobre favelas do Rio na mídia internacional aumentou em qualidade e volume nos anos pré-Olímpicos, diz pesquisa [English / Spanish] by Alessandra Monnerat [USA-PT]
• Rede TVT – December 16, 2016 Levantamento mostra que falta aprofundamento da mídia sobre favelas [TV] [Brazil-PT]
• Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas – December 14, 2016 Journalists in Rio de Janeiro show how to break banalization of urban violence in news coverage [Portuguese / Spanish] by Alessandra Monnerat [USA-EN]
• The Guardian – December 5, 2016 No more ‘rat kids’: Fighting the way we think about the residents of Rio’s favelas by Katia Savchuk [UK-EN]
• The Huffington Post – October 6, 2016 Nobody Asked Rio’s Poor About The Olympics. So They Yelled Louder. by Travis Waldron [USA-EN]
• Rádio CBN – September 1, 2016 Rio impõe ao próximo prefeito o desafio de lidar com a questão habitacional (Radio) by Lucas Soares [Brazil-PT]
• The Development Set – August 24, 2016 The Tiny NGO That Changed Reporting on Rio’s Favelas During the Olympics by Katia Savchuk [USA-EN]
• BBC World Service World Have Your Say – August 22, 2016 Rio’s Olympic Legacy [RADIO] by Orla Barry
• TRT World The Newsmakers – August 22, 2016 Rio 2016’s Legacy [TV] [Turkey-EN]
• WORT Radio – August 22, 2016 Olympiad Impact: What’s Next for Rio and Its Favelas? [RADIO] by Brian Standing [USA-EN]
• Edge of Sports – August 19, 2016 The Other Olympic Rio with Favela Activist Theresa Williamson by Dave Zirin [USA-EN]
• The TODAY Show on NBC – August 12, 2016 Santa Marta: Matt Lauer tours one of Rio de Janeiro’s oldest favelas by Matt Lauer [USA-EN]
• Metropolis – August 10, 2016 Will the Olympics’ Failures Spark A New Urban Paradigm for Rio? by Theresa Williamson [USA-EN]
• openDemocracy – August 5, 2016 Rio’s real vs. unmet Olympic legacies: what they tell us about the future of cities? by Theresa Williamson [UK-EN]
• Guernica – June 15, 2016: Opportunity for the Unknown: Ann Deslandes interviews Theresa Williamson by Ann Deslandes [USA-EN]
• Americas Quarterly – June 3, 2016: Inside Rio’s Favelas: The Fallout from an Alleged Gang Rape: Interview with Theresa Williamson [PODCAST] by Stephen Kurczy [USA-EN]
• Edge of Sports – May 20, 2016: The Olympics and the Battle for Rio’s Future (Radio) by Dave Zirin [USA-EN]
• The New York Times ‘Room for Debate’ – May 16, 2016: Holding the Olympics in Rio Was Always a Bad Idea by Theresa Williamson [USA-EN] [Click here for Portuguese translation]
• WORT Radio – January 26, 2016 Favela Autonomy and the Rio Olympics [RADIO] by Brian Standing [USA-EN]
• Radio New Zealand – January 18, 2016: Rio Olympics: corruption, police brutality, and forced evictions [RADIO] by Lynn Freeman [New Zealand-EN]
• The Guardian – October 28, 2015: Brazil officials evict families from homes ahead of 2016 Olympic Games by Bruce Douglas [UK-EN]
• The International Business Times – October 28, 2015: Rio Olympics 2016: Local Brazil Governments ‘Resettling’ Thousands of Families Before Games Begin by Michelle Mark [USA-EN]
• Global Post – October 27, 2015: #BlackLivesMatter has gone global. And Brazil needs it — badly by Will Carless [USA-EN]
• CityLab – September 9, 2015: Rio’s Olympic Inequality Problem, In Pictures by Matthew Niederhauser [USA-EN]
• The New York Times – August 20, 2015: Trump Hotel Goes Up in Rio, but His Views Barely Raise Eyebrows in Brazil by Simon Romero [USA-EN]
• The Guardian – August 19, 2015: Rio’s Olympic Village: a green housing dream, but a gentrification nightmare [VIDEO] by Ana Athayde [UK-EN]
• TV Folha de São Paulo – July 15, 2015: Comunidade premiada é desalojada para abrigar Vila Olímpica no Rio [TV] by Laura Lewer [Brazil-PT]
• Architectural Review – May 30, 2015 A New Threat to Favelas: Gentrification by Theresa Williamson [USA-EN with Portuguese translation]
• KGNU Radio – April 7, 2015: Catalyzing Marginalized Communities in Latin America by Joe Richey [USA-EN]
• Conference on World Affairs – April 6-10, 2015: Panels [USA-EN]
• Maré de Notícias – November 1, 2014: Os Riscos de Título de Propriedade by Theresa Williamson [Brazil-PT] [Click here for English translation]
• Buzzfeed – June 29, 2014: Why Brazil is Actually Winning the Internet by Julie Ruvolo [USA-EN]
• France TV – June 11, 2014: GRAND Soir 3 du mercredi 11 juin 2014 [42 min into program] by Patricia Loison [France-FR]
• Al Jazeera America – June 10, 2014: Turning Rio’s Favelas Into a Tourist Attraction by Christof Putzel [USA-EN]
• PRX – May 27, 2014: A Journey through Favelas of Rio de Janeiro [RADIO] by Gianluca Tramontana [UK-EN]
• Journeyman Pictures – May 19, 2014: The Dark Side of Rio’s World Cup [VIDEO]
• The Guardian – April 23, 2014: The World Cup and Olympics threaten to overwhelm Rio – yet there is time to create a sensation out of disaster by Simon Jenkins [UK-EN]
• Rádio CBN – April 17, 2014: Especulação imobiliária faz moradores se mudarem de favelas da Zona Sul do Rio [RADIO] [Brazil-PT]
• WBGO Journal – March 14, 2014: In the Way of the Games [RADIO Interview with Theresa Williamson] by Monica Miller [RADIO] [USA-EN]
• Rádio CBN – December 11, 2013: Regiões do Rio, principalmente favelas, passam pela gentrificação: Entrevista com Theresa Williamson [Brazil-PT]
• The Atlantic Cities – December 2, 2013: Is a Favela Still a Favela Once It Starts Gentrifying? by Jordana Timerman [USA-EN]
• Tricycle – Winter 2013: This Buddhist Life: An Interview with Theresa Williamson by Emma Varvaloucas [USA-EN]
• Casa Fluminense October 7, 2013: Cidades Singulares: Planejamento Urbano e Regularização Fundiária nas Favelas Cariocas by Theresa Williamson [Brazil-PT]
• Metro New York – June 17, 2013: World Cup Preparations are Harming City’s Culture: An Interview with Theresa Williamson by Elisabeth Braw [USA-English]
• NPR Worldview – July 16, 2013: What Did Brazil’s Protests Accomplish? [RADIO interview with Theresa Williamson] by Jerome McDonnell [USA-EN]
• Urb.im – June 20, 2013: Protests are Just the Beginning: Change Will Come to Brazil by Theresa Williamson [USA-EN]
• Le Monde – June 20, 2013: Brésil: les manifestants restent mobilisés après le recul des autorités by Nicolas Bourcier [France-FR]
• The New York Times Debate – June 19, 2013: It’s Just the Beginning: Change Will Come to Brazil by Theresa Williamson [USA-EN] [Click here for full response and here for Portuguese translation]
• NPR Worldview – June 19, 2013: Protests in Brazil and Managing Europe’s Air Traffic [RADIO interview with Theresa Williamson] by Jerome McDonnell [USA-EN]
• Yo Dona – June 8, 2013: Resistencia en las Favelas by Germán Aranda [Spain-Spanish]
• SBS Dateline – April 9, 2013: Reshaping Rio [VIDEO] by Yaara Bou Melhem [Australia-EN]
• Folha de São Paulo – October 4, 2012: Reassentamento não pode ser retrocesso no desenvolvimento das comunidades by Theresa Williamson [Brazil-PT] [Click here for English translation]
• DETAIL – Autumn 2012: Statements from Rio de Janeiro by Theresa Williamson [Germany-EN]
• The New York Times Op-Ed – August 12, 2012: In the Name of the Future, Rio Is Destroying Its Past by Theresa Williamson and Maurício Hora [USA-EN] [Click here for Portuguese translation]
• The New York Times Debate – April 3, 2012: Brazil is Missing an Opportunity to Invest in the Favelas by Theresa Williamson [USA-EN]
• NPR Worldview – January 6, 2012: As Rio prepares for the 2016 Olympics many residents of the city’s favelas are evicted from their homes [RADIO interview with Theresa Williamson] by Jerome McDonnell [USA-EN]
• United Nations – May 18, 2011: Better City/Better Life: South-North Initiative by American Institute of Architects NY Chapter