Maria Francesca is broadly interested in spaces of identity; her work focuses on the construction and exploitation of authenticity in the production of space, and its relevance in occasioning place attachment. She holds a Ph.D in Architecture and Urbanism from Università Iuav di Venezia, and a M.Arch in Preservation with honors from Sapienza, University of Rome. Francesca conducted fieldwork in Los Angeles, where she served over a year as researcher for the Urban Humanities (Mellon) Initiative at UCLA, in Shanghai, where she worked at the Tongji Urban Planning Design Institute, and in Vilnius, where she joined the Gedimino Technical University. Starting September 2015, Maria Francesca will be enrolled in the Urban Planning PhD program at University of Southern California.