Francesca Governa
Full Professor of Economic and Political Geography, Polytechnic of Turin
Francesca is an urban geographer and professor of economic and political geography at the Interuniversity Department of Regional and Urban Studies and Planning- DIST, Politecnico di Torino. She is part of the China Room, a research group on Urban China. She is involved in research activities at national and international level on four main issues: local development processes and policies; urban margins and spatial justice; urban development and the rescaling of the urban realm; Urban China and urbanization processes in the Global South. She is the author of about 200 scientific publications and is currently the principal investigator of a three-year research program on Chinese urbanization processes related to the Belt and Road Initiative founded by the Italian Minister of University and Research. She is also the scientific supervisor of a research funded under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions on the role of Chinese entrepreneurs in Africa. She has carried on fieldworks in European, North African and Chinese cities.
Selected publications
Governa F. and Sampieri A. (2020), “Urbanisation processes and new towns in contemporary China: a critical understanding from a decentered view”, Urban Studies, 77 (2), pp. 366-382.
Iacovone C., Valz Griz A., Safina A., Pollio A. and Governa F. (2020), “Breaking the distance. Dialogues of care in a time of limited geographies”, Dialogues in Human Geography, 10 (2), pp. 124-127.
Governa F. (2016), “Ordinary spaces in ordinary cities. Exploring urban margins in Torino and Marseille”, Mediterranée. Revue Geographique des Pays Mediterraneens, 127, pp. 109-119.