Title:
Assistant professor and design justice research chair, School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape (SAPL), University of Calgary
Recent Project:
Opening the Design Justice Centre at SAPL next year. The centre will be a space not only for those who work in housing, but for the broader community, as well.
Impact Highlight:
Has influenced national housing policies through research and advocacy.
Vision for Calgary:
“A city where design fosters belonging, health and equity for all residents.”
Cecile Kotyk’s dedication to creating equity and social justice in Calgary’s urban development started with her own lived experience. She grew up in Nigeria, where she experienced what she calls “housing challenges.”
She didn’t expect to face housing challenges again when she immigrated to Canada. However, when she moved to Winnipeg to attend university in 2004, Kotyk says the idea she had of Canada fractured. “Experiencing racism, discrimination and housing precarity, and the policies that prevented me from accessing affordable and safe housing ignited a passion in me,” she says, reflecting on how these negative experiences inspired her to work to make change.
Kotyk’s passion for understanding the barriers marginalized communities face to accessing safe and affordable housing, as well as the historic structures that contribute to our built environments, led her to pursue a master’s degree in city planning.
She spent the next 15 years working with Indigenous communities, non-profits, public housing providers and service agencies in Manitoba to tackle affordable and social housing issues, homelessness and mental health. Working for the At Home/Chez Soi project, she worked to procure more than 200 units to house project partners. She later worked with End Homelessness Winnipeg to mobilize the 10-year Plan to End Homelessness.
As an assistant professor at the University of Calgary’s School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape, Kotyk’s research focuses on design justice and delves into the intersection of design, equity, social justice and health. Her pioneering work created the Black Housing Equity Framework, to be used by anyone working in the housing sector to address racist and discriminatory practices and engage with Black communities to improve housing conditions.
That work has been presented internationally and recognized with the Alberta Award for the Study of Canadian Human Rights and Multiculturalism scholarship in 2022.
“Black communities have historically been left behind on a lot of policies and decision-making. This framework is all about how we facilitate better consultation and participation and inclusion with Black communities,” Kotyk says.
In 2022, she founded her urban planning consulting practice. Her work places racialized communities as co-creators in the planning, design and delivery of projects that are being developed in their neighbourhoods.
“I challenge myself, my students and my clients to ensure that we’re really engaging with the communities that our practices and our approaches impact, and that those communities are driving the process,” Kotyk says.
