Dr Francesca Elizabeth Froy

Francesca uses network analysis as a tool for understanding urban complexity. She is interested in how urban morphology, and the spatial configuration of street networks, influences economic activities. She also explores how the current economic structure of cities reflects the historical evolution of diverse but interdependent industry sectors. She is increasingly interested in sustainable and circular economies, and the link between local economic development and biodiversity. Francesca regularly publishes in journals such as European Planning Studies, the Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, and the Journal of Urban Design. She sits on the Editorial Board for the journal Local Economy.

University College London

Doctorate, Doctor of Architecture | 2021

University College London

Other higher degree, Master of Science | 2014

University of Reading

Other higher degree, Master of Arts | 1996

University College London

First Degree, Bachelor of Anthropology | 1994

Francesca is an Honorary Lecturer at the Bartlett School of Planning and an Honorary Senior Research Associate at the Bartlett School of Architecture. She is based in the Department for Continuing Education at the University of Oxford where she is a Departmental Lecturer for the MSc in Sustainable Urban Development and a Fellow of Kellogg College. She is also an Associate at the consultancy Space Syntax. Until 2015, she was a senior policy analyst at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) where she led international reviews on local policy implementation and governance. She evaluated European Commission-funded urban and regional policies based in Brussels from 2001-5 and before this worked as a local housing initiatives coordinator for Reading Borough Council. 

Publications

Froy, F. (2023). Learning from architectural theory about how cities work as complex and evolving spatial systems. Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, 115. 

Froy, F., Heroy, S., Uyarra, E., & O’Clery, N. (2023). What drives the creation of green jobs, products and technologies in cities and regions? Insights from recent research on green industrial transitions. Local Economy. 

Straulino, D., Froy, F., Schwanen, T., & O’Clery, N. (2023). Connecting up embedded knowledge across Northern Powerhouse cities. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space. 

Froy, F (2023) Review of Howard Davis’s Working Cities: architecture, place and production (1st ed.), Journal of Urban Design, 28:2, 254-256

Froy, F. (2021) ‘A marvellous order’ – how spatial and economic configurations interact to produce agglomeration economies in Greater Manchester, PhD Thesis, University College London

Froy, F, (2020), Editor of a Special Edition of the Local Economy Journal on ‘Place-based industrial strategies’, Sage Journals, London, UK.

Froy, F and H. Davis (2017), ‘Pragmatic urbanism: London’s railway arches and small-scale enterprises’, European Planning Studies, Special edition on Culture and Innovation: Implications for SMEs and micro-firms, 25(11). 2076-2096.

Froy, F; Davis, H; Dhanani, A; (2017) Can the organisation of commercial space in cities encourage creativity and 'self-generating' economic growth? A return to Jane Jacob's ideas.In: Proceedings of the 11th Space Syntax Symposium. Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal: Lisbon, Portugal.

Froy, F. (2016), 'Understanding the spatial organisation of economic activities in early 19th century Antwerp’, The Journal of Space Syntax, Vol. 6, Issue 2, p. 225-246 

Froy, F. (2013), ‘Global policy developments towards industrial policy and skills: skills for competitiveness and growth’, in "Government and Business: A New Industrial Policy?" A special edition of the Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford.

Froy, F and S.Giguère (2010) Breaking out of policy silos: doing more with less, OECD Publishing, Paris

Froy, F., Giguère, S. and Hofer, A eds. (2009) Designing local skills strategies, OECD Publishing, Paris

Giguère, S. and Froy, F. eds. (2009) Flexible policy for more and better jobs, OECD Publishing, Paris

Froy, F and Giguère, S. eds. (2006) From Immigration to Integration: Local Solutions to a Global Challenge, OECD Publishing, Paris (translated into French and Greek