Dr. Theresa Williamson
Founder and Executive Director
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 favela news platform, and facilitates the Sustainable Favela Network and Favela Community Land Trust program. Theresa is an outspoken advocate for favela heritage, housing rights, and environmental justice. She is based in Rio de Janeiro.
ABOUT THERESA
Biography
Theresa earned a B.A. in Biological Anthropology from Swarthmore College, with concentrations in Environmental Studies and Peace and Conflict Studies, followed by an M.A. and Ph.D. in City and Regional Planning from the University of Pennsylvania. Her dissertation on international planning received the 2005 Gill-Chin Lim Award for Best Dissertation.
In 2000, Theresa founded Catalytic Communities to support community-led social change in Rio de Janeiro's favelas. CatComm produces RioOnWatch, a bilingual local-to-global news platform, and facilitates the 1,200-member Sustainable Favela Network and Favela Community Land Trust program. During the pandemic, CatComm also developed the Covid-19 in Favelas Unified Dashboard.
Theresa has published multiple book chapters and four opinion pieces in The New York Times, and has been cited in hundreds of publications and television programs. Her work centers favelas as solutions, the importance of community heritage and belonging, housing rights, climate justice, and the future of cities.
She received the 2018 American Society of Rio Award and the 2012 NAHRO International Award. Catalytic Communities won the 2022 Brazilian Federation of Architects and Urbanists Prize, while RioOnWatch received a 2022 Anthem Award and the Sustainable Favela Network received a 2025 Anthem Award for its Favela Climate Memory exhibition. With a Brazilian mother and English father, Theresa spent her childhood between Rio de Janeiro and Washington, DC, before returning to Brazil in 2000.
Presentations and Interviews
Book Chapters
Public Speaking
Theresa is available for public presentations, lectures, debates and workshops and frequently develops new talks based on CatComm's decades of work together with favela partners. These constitute an important part of our work bridging cultural and academic divides and raising funds for our efforts. 100% of honoraria are paid directly to Catalytic Communities and invested in our community reporting, climate justice and land rights programs.
2026
• International Meeting on Educational Practices in Museums and Science and Technology Centers: Climate Change in Focus, panel ‘Memory, climate heritage, and public policies’
• Innovate4Cities, Nairobi, Kenya
• VI Rio de Janeiro State Museums Forum, panel ‘Favela Museums Confronting Environmental Racism and Mitigating Impacts’ (May 28)
• 13th World Urban Forum, Baku, Azerbaijan
2025
• Cornell University Rio Favelas and the Search for Climate Justice
2024
• Gil Penalosa Sustainable Favelas: The Key to Climate Justice and Thriving Cities?
• WebSummit Rio How should cities of the future look?
• University of Calgary Sustainable Favelas
• The Nature of Cities Keynote (Berlin, Germany)
• Norman Foster Institute (Madrid, Spain)
• 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
• Harvard School of Design Significance, Problems and Potentials of Favelas
• University of Vienna Rio de Janeiro: Mega-Events and Rapid Urban Change in the 'Divided City'
• OurWorldHeritage Living Heritage: linking tangible and intangible heritage
• ABRASCO Vigilância Popular da Saúde e Ambiente da Covid 19
• 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
• Melbourne School of Design SDGs, Urban Planning for Equity and Climate Resilience in our Cities
• University of Melbourne Keynote for ABP Symposium – SDGs, Urban Planning for Equity and Climate Resilience in our Cities
• UN Habitat-Brazil Circuito Urbano Fórum Cidades e Comunidades Sustentáveis
• World Habitat Securing land rights: Community Land Trusts in Informal Settlements with Theresa Williamson [United Kingdom-EN]
• SESC Brasil Desenvolvimento sustentável e territórios
• 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)
• 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)
• 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)
• Celebrating Commons Scholarship at Georgetown University (Washington, DC, USA)
• Grounded Solutions Annual Conference (Pittsburgh, USA)
• Slums: New Visions for an Enduring Global Phenomenon at Harvard University (Cambridge, USA)
• American Society of Rio de Janeiro (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
• 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
• EcoCity World Summit (Melbourne, Australia)
• Comparative Approaches to Informal Housing across the Globe at University College London (London, UK)
• Art, Aesthetics and the Future of City Life conference at Marquette University (Milwaukee, USA)
• CIEE (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
• Inter-American Development Bank Working Group on Barrio 31 (Buenos Aires, Argentina)
2016
• CIEE (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
• Urb Favelas (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
• Placar Final (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
• The Global Summit (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
• World Planning Schools Congress (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
2015
• EcoCity World Summit (Abu Dhabi, U.A.E.)
• Conference on World Affairs (Boulder, CO, USA)
• 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)
• UN Habitat (New York, USA)
• American Society of Rio de Janeiro (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
• 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)
• Substance Coop Conference: After the Event (Manchester, UK)
2007
• Swarthmore College Lax Conference on Entrepreneurship Conference speaker and roundtable coordinator (Swarthmore, PA)
• Rotary Club of Rio de Janeiro – Laranjeiras presentation on Catalytic Communities (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
2006
• Tech Museum Awards Showcase presentation (San Jose, CA)
• National Community Reinvestment Coalition lecture “A Peak at an Unassisted Community” (Washington, DC)
• Rotary Clubs of Clinton, Normal, and Sunset: multiple presentations on Catalytic Communities (Bloomington, IL)
• International Honors Program class visiting lecture (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
2005
• PlaNetwork presentation on Catalytic Communities (Washington, DC)
• 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”
• Virginia Tech City and Regional Planning Department daytime and evening talks: “Poverty, Development and the Internet”
• Rotary Club of Rio de Janeiro – Saúde presentation on Catalytic Communities (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
• 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)
• World Social Forum Workshop presenter (Mumbai, India)
• 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)
• 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
• 2001, 2002 and 2003 World Social Forum Workshop presenter (Porto Alegre, Brazil)
• Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM) Conference lecture “The Internet as a Community Catalyst” (Mexico City, Mexico)
• University of Maryland Graduate WebShop participant and graduate research presenter (College Park, MD)