Dr Francesca Froy

Biography

Francesca Froy is a Lecturer for the Master’s in Sustainable Urban Development at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Kellogg College. She is an Honorary Lecturer at the Bartlett School of Planning and also a Senior Research Fellow at the Bartlett School of Architecture. Francesca sits on the Editorial Board for the Local Economy Journal. Prior to her academic roles she worked for over twenty years in policy analysis and delivery, and until 2015 was a senior policy analyst at the OECD, where she led international reviews on local policy implementation, employment and skills strategies and local governance for the Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities. She is an Associate at the planning and architecture consultancy, Space Syntax.

Francesca holds a PhD in Architecture from the Bartlett, UCL (2021), an MSC in Advanced Architectural Studies from UCL (2014), an MA in The Body and its Representation from the University of Reading (1996) and a BSc in Anthropology from UCL (1994). 

Research and teaching

Francesca’s research and teaching has three main strands. Firstly, she focuses on urban morphology and the spatial organisation of cities. Secondly, she explores evolutionary economic geography and the factors influencing economic diversification and economic complexity in cities. Within this field she has become increasingly focused on sustainable or regenerative economies and the green transition. Thirdly she analyses local governance and the ways in which local policy makers work together to govern economic and spatial complexity in cities. She has been involved in many international research projects while working for the OECD and on behalf of the European Commission (at the Brussels office of the consultancy ECORYS).

DPhil supervision

Francesca welcomes prospective doctoral students whose research interests match hers. She is keen to supervise students who are interested in any of the research themes outlined below:

• Urban complexity and systems thinking

• Urban economies, local economic development, the spatial organisation of urban economies, and evolutionary economic geography
• Urban morphologies and space syntax
• Nature-based infrastructures and circular economies

Keywords

Urban morphology, evolutionary economic geography, governance, skills, network analysis.

Journal articles, books and book chapters

• Froy, F (2025) Rebuilding urban complexity: a configurational approach to postindustrial cities, Abingdon, Oxon: Rouledge

• Froy, F (2023) Learning from architectural theory about how cities work as complex and evolving spatial systems. Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, rsad024: https://doi.org/10.1093/cjres/rsad024

• 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, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/02690942231170135
• 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, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/0308518X231159108
• Froy, F (2023) Review of Howard Davis’s Working Cities: architecture, place and production (1st ed.), Journal of Urban Design, 28:2, 254-256, DOI: 10.1080/13574809.2023.2167302
• 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 (2003) ‘In/determinacy in Cyberspace’ - Book Chapter in Segal, N,, Taylor, L. and Cook, R. eds. Indeterminate Bodies, Palgrave Macmillan
• Bishop, M., Taylor, L. & Froy, F.(2000) ‘Computer-mediated Communication Use by the Deaf & Hard of Hearing: Kybernetes Journal. Millenium Volume III Vol 29 9/10

Reports, policy and policy analysis

• 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, https://citiesofmaking.com/. 
• Froy, F (2019) Industry relatedness analysis: a technical report for the research on innovation and global competitiveness, for the Greater Manchester Prosperity Review coordinated by Professor Diane Coyle
• Green A., F.Froy, E.Kispeter and P.Sissons (2017), ‘How do cities lead an
  inclusive growth agenda? International experiences’, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, York
• Froy, F and S.Giguère (2010) ‘Putting in place jobs that last: a guide to rebuilding quality employment at local level’, OECD, Paris. (translated into French, Spanish, Dutch, Bulgarian, Romanian).
• 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)