Raquel Rolnik

Raquel Rolnik is a professor, architect, and urban planner whose career has focused on a combination of scholarship and activism. She has tangible experience in planning, urban land policy, and housing. She is currently a professor at the University of São Paulo, leads LabCidade an action/research center and is the mayor of the University Campus. She previously held a myriad of government positions, including Director of the Planning Department in São Paulo (1989-1992) and National Secretary for Urban Programs of the Brazilian Ministry of Cities (2003-2007). Outside of government, she has worked at NGOs such as the Polis Institute and was appointed by the UN Human Rights Council as UN Special Rapporteur on adequate housing from 2008-2014. Her current research is on housing justice, including mapping evictions taking place in São Paulo and working with organizations to make an impact on this issue. As an academic, she has authored several books, including Urban Warfare: Housing and Cities in the Age of Finance (Verso 2018), A Cidade e a Lei (studio Nobel), and São Paulo: O planejamento da desigualdade (Fosforo 2022).