Dr. Carolyn Whitzman

Carolyn Whitzman is in the middle of her third career as a researcher, consultant, and advocate, focused on housing and planning policy that advances the right to the city.

In her first career (1989-99), she worked for the City of Toronto, developing integrated policy to prevent gender-based violence. 

In her second career (2003-19), she was a Professor of Urban Planning at the University of Melbourne. 

Professor Whitzman is the author, co-author or editor of five books related to ‘the right to the city’ in both a contemporary and historical perspective. These include: Clara at the Door with a Revolver: the scandalous Black suspect, the respectable white son, and the murder that shocked Toronto (UBC Press/ On Point Books, Feb 2023), Building Inclusive Cities: Women’s Safety and the Right to the City (Routledge, 2013); Suburb, Slum, Urban Village: Transformations in a Toronto’s Parkdale Neighbourhood 1875-2002 (UBC Press, 2009), and The Handbook of Community Safety, Gender, and Violence Prevention: Practical Planning Tools (Earthscan, 2008). She is also the author or co-author of over 50 book chapters, articles and published conference presentations on housing policy, children’s independent mobility, women’s safety, and disability rights. She frequently provides policy advice to local, state and national government and to the UN, including addressing the plenary at the Habitat III Conference in Quito, Ecuador in September 2016.