Francesca Ammon is an assistant professor in the City and Regional Planning and Historic Preservation departments at the University of Pennsylvania.

More recently, she held the Sally Kress Tompkins Fellowship, which is jointly sponsored by the Society of Architectural Historians (SAH) and the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS).

[1] Ammon's research focuses on urban planning and the built environment since World War II, studying the changing landscape to reveal social, political, cultural, and economic patterns.

Her work not only explores urban revitalization efforts in the twentieth century, but how carefully crafted narratives and images of the city, past and present, shape public perception.

She has also contributed to radio programs, including WNYC's The Takeaway, WNPR's The Colin McEnroe Show, and KPFA's Against the Grain, as well as the PBS television documentary 10 Towns That Changed America.