Francesca Froy

Francesca Froy is a Research Associate at the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP).

Francesca’s research at the Bartlett focuses on urban economic complexity and the spatial organisation of cities. She lectures on urban and regional economies at the Bartlett School of Planning. Until 2015, she was a senior policy analyst at the Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities at the OECD where she led international reviews on local policy implementation and governance. She has extensive experience of analysing and promoting public sector innovation at the city and regional level, with a particular focus on economic development and employment policies. She was part of the drafting team for the OECD Skills Strategy and helped prepare a set of Principles for Local Job Creation which were adopted by G20 labour ministers in 2014.  Based at the consultancy ECORYS in Brussels, she also evaluated the urban and regional policies of the European Commission and the European Parliament (amongst others) from 2001-2005. 

Since being back in the UK, projects have included an international evidence review of inclusive cities for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, and a review of how infrastructure can better support place-making for the Royal Institute of British Architects. She is currently co-investigator for an Alan Turing Institute project looking at the potential implications of new infrastructure investment in joining up embedded knowledge in Northern cities.

Francesca has written a number of OECD publications and her articles have been published in the Oxford Review of Economic Policy and European Planning Studies amongst other journals. She is on the Editorial Board for the Local Economy Journal and in 2020 edited a special edition of the journal on place-based industrial strategies. 

Her PhD at UCL’s Space Syntax Lab focused on the role of urban morphology in economic evolution and diversification. She also has a BSc in Anthropology and an MSC in Spatial design: Architecture and Cities. 

Selected publications

Books

• Froy, F. and Giguère, S. (2010) Breaking out of policy silos, OECD Publishing, Paris
• Froy et al (2009) Designing Local Skills Strategies, OECD Publishing, Paris
• Froy, F and Giguère S (2006) From immigration to integration: local solutions to a global challenge, OECD Publishing, Paris

Journal articles

• Froy, F. (2013),‘Global policy developments towards industrial policy and skills: skills for competitiveness and growth’, in "Government and Business: A New Industrial Policy?" Special Edition of the Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Volume 29, Issue 2, 344–360
• Froy. F (2016) ‘Is new work really built from old work? And if so, what does this mean for the spatial organisation of economic activities in cities?' Conference Proceedings, Jane Jacobs 100: her legacy and relevance in the 21st century ed. TU Delft
• Froy, F (2016), Understanding the spatial organisation of economic activities in early 19th century Antwerp, The Journal of Space Syntax Vol.6, Issue 2
• Froy, F and Davis, H. (2017), ‘Pragmatic urbanism: London’s railway arches and small-scale enterprises’, European Planning Journal, 25:11, 2076-2096
• Froy, F (2020), Editor) Special Edition of the Local Economy Journal on Place-based industrial strategies, SAGE
• Froy, F (2021) ‘A marvellous order’: how spatial and economic configurations interact to produce agglomeration economies in Greater Manchester. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL

Reports

• O’Clery, N and Froy, F. (2022 Forthcoming), Network modelling of the UK's urban skills base. Alan Turing Institute Policy Brief. London.
• Froy, F and N. Palominos (2020), The Maker-Mile in East London: case study report for the Cities of Making project in London, Brussels and Rotterdam
• Green, A. Froy, F. Kispeter, E.  and Sissons, P., (2017), ‘How do cities lead an inclusive growth agenda?’, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, York
• Froy, F. et al (2012) Skills for Competiveness: A synthesis report, OECD LEED Working Papers
• Froy, F and S. Giguère (2010), Putting in place jobs that last: A guide to rebuilding quality employment at the local level, OECD LEED Working Papers   

Blogs

• 21 October, 2020 ‘Are local industrial strategies still relevant as we ‘build back better?' IIPP Medium
• 6 September, 2018 Remnants of Britain’s button industry offer three important lessons for the future of manufacturing, The Conversation
• 17 July, 2018 ‘Britain’s railway arches are being sold off and small businesses could be forced out’, The Conversation