Dr. Marie Cecile Kotyk
Assistant Professor
School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape
Dr. Marie Cecile Kotyk is a Social Planner, an Assistant Professor, and Design Justice Research Chair in the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture (SAPL) at the University of Calgary. She is also the Founder and Director of the UDesign Justice Initiative (UDJI), a community-engaged hub advancing equitable approaches to housing, planning, and city-building, and the Founder and Principal Consultant of Kotyk Consulting, a practice specializing in housing, community development, and equity-centred research.
A scholar-practitioner with two decades of experience spanning academia, government, healthcare, housing, and the non-profit sector, Dr. Kotyk’s work sits at the intersection of design justice, housing equity, urban health, and community planning. Her research examines how systemic inequities become embedded in the built environment and explores community-led approaches to creating more equitable, healthy, and inclusive cities.
Dr. Kotyk is the creator of Canada’s first Black Housing Equity Framework, developed through her doctoral research, Seeing in Colour: A Black Housing Equity Framework to Address Anti-Black Racism in Housing and Homelessness. She is a nationally recognized scholar in design justice and housing equity whose work has advanced national conversations on equitable housing and anti-racism in the built environment. Her scholarship and community-engaged research have been showcased across North America and internationally through academic conferences, invited lectures, policy forums, and public engagement initiatives. Dr. Kotyk’s work has received numerous accolades, including the 2022–2023 Alberta Award for the Study of Canadian Human Rights and Multiculturalism. She was also recognized by Avenue Calgary as a visionary shaping the future of cities.
Prior to joining academia, Dr. Kotyk held leadership roles across housing, homelessness, and community systems. She played a significant role in implementing Canada’s landmark At Home/Chez Soi Housing First research demonstration project, securing approximately 200 housing units and building partnerships across the housing and health sectors to support people experiencing homelessness. She later led the development of Winnipeg’s first Housing Models and Development Framework and co-developed the city’s Extreme Weather Response, influencing policy and practice aimed at increasing affordable housing and improving outcomes for vulnerable populations.
Through research, teaching, consulting, and partnership-building, Dr. Kotyk works alongside communities, governments, industry, and non-profit organizations to co-create solutions that advance belonging, dignity, and spatial justice.