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Larissa Larsen is an assistant professor in the Urban and Regional Planning Program (URP) at the University of Michigan. She teaches graduate classes in environmental planning, physical planning, and urban design theory. Larissa coordinates the physical planning and urban design concentration in the URP program and she also holds an appointment in the School of Natural Resources and Environment.

Her research focuses on environmental justice and environmental inequities in the built environment. In 2008, she began examining how Community Benefits Agreements can be used to empower communities of color and poor communities in addressing the impacts of major development or infrastructure projects. She is actively working with a coalition of community groups in Southwest Detroit who are in the planning process for a second international bridge that will connect Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Ontario. Some of her past research has examined urban heat islands, water consumption, and neighborhood mobilization against environmental problems.

Larissa grew up on a farm in Ontario. She completed her undergraduate and graduate degrees at the University of Guelph, Ontario. Larissa received her Ph.D. in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. After completing her Ph.D., she worked as a landscape architect and urban planner for a private firm in Chicago, Illinois. She is a registered landscape architect and has a passion for native plants. Before coming to the University of Michigan, she taught at Arizona State University for two years.