Clarissa Freitas is a scholar in the field of Urban Planning affiliated to Federal University of Ceará (UFC) in Fortaleza, Brazil . Professor Freitas works at the intersection of political economy of urbanization and urban design policies. Recently, she has been researching on the challenges that informal settlements pose to planning policies. She spent 2015/2016 academic year as a visiting professor at DURP/UIUC , and since 2018 she holds the position of academic coordinator of the Graduate Program of Architecture, Urbanism and Design at UFC. She teaches undergrad and grad courses on Landscape Planning; Urban Design and Planning Theory, and contributes to urban movements struggles for Right to the City.

Prior to her position at UFC, Professor Freitas has taught in public and private universities in Brasília, the modernist planned capital city of Brazil. She has also worked in Brazilian Ministry of the City, supervising the implementation of Habitar Brasil housing program in several municipalities in Central and Southeast Brazil. She holds a master degree in Urban and Regional Planning in the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) supported by a Fulbright fellowship (2003), and a PhD degree in Architecture and Urbanism at Universidade de Brasilia (UNB) supported by a CNPQ fellowship (2009).