Abigail Friendly is an Assistant Professor in Spatial Planning in the Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Utrecht University and a Research Fellow at the Global Cities Institute, University of Toronto. Previously, she held a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Institute on Municipal Finance and Governance, Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto. She has a PhD from the Department of Geography and Planning at the University of Toronto. Her research focuses on the intersection between urban planning, international development, governance and urban policies. Her current research focuses on:

• Metropolitan institutions and planning reform in Brazil
• The interface between infrastructure and social transformation through corridor planning in São Paulo
• Planning, justice and the right to the city in Brazilian cities
• Incremental housing and material flows in the global south