Melissa is an academic, designer, prisoner solidarity organizer, and advocate for the unhoused, situated on the unceded Indigenous lands of the Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabeg peoples in Tiohtià:ke/ Mooniyang/ Montreal. They are currently a Ph.D. candidate in the Cultural Studies program at Queen’s University, and also hold a M.Arch from the University of Manitoba. Melissa’s research focuses on the presence of hostile architecture in urban space as connected to a longer history of state-led displacement. This research is both historical and abolitionist, working to map and identify oppressive architectural strategies in efforts to create, sustain, and expand less hostile spaces.