Francesca has worked as an editor at The Guardian, Blueprint and ICON. As a freelance editor, she has collaborated with institutions including the London School of Architecture, Quality of Life Foundation, The Bartlett at UCL, and African Futures Institute.
As commissioning and community editor for The Guardian’s Cities section from 2014 to 2017, Francesca commissioned, curated and edited articles covering global urban stories, as well as built online community and reader engagement. She established the popular Cities on Instagram series, as well as the Border cities and Ageing cities series. Through ‘live weeks’ in Mumbai, Mexico City and Jakarta she worked to develop and nurture global audiences. She was the first person at The Guardian to harness WeChat to engage readers in China.
Francesca edited this book for Scandinavian practice C F Møller Architects, published in 2021 by Arvinius + Orfeus. The project involved shaping the vision for the book, commissioning and editing essays, unifying tone, writing captions and collaborating with writers, publisher, client and graphic designers to see the book through to completion.
Francesca was the editor of ICON, one of the world’s leading architecture and design magazines, from 2020 to 2022. She shaped, oversaw and delivered the quarterly print edition, popular web and social media platforms, and weekly newsletters. She simultaneously managed the overall editorial curation as well as the day-to-day production and long-term growth of the brand.
Francesca was a senior editor at Cultureshock, a leading arts and culture content agency. She edited Sotheby’s Magazine, as well as the print and digital editorial platforms for Sotheby’s International Realty. To produce these, she commissioned and edited all content, and worked closely with art directors, production managers, picture researchers, subeditors and an editorial assistant.
Blueprint
Francesca was deputy editor of Blueprint magazine from 2017 to 2020. She managed the editorial content in each issue, to include planning annual themes, commissioning and writing a range of features, sourcing imagery, copyediting all content and working with the art director to prepare each issue for publication.
As editorial consultant for African Futures Institute (AFI), a platform for architectural research, education and public programming led by African and diasporic talent, Francesca copyedits and proofreads all editorial content, working closely with AFI founder Lesley Lokko OBE. As part of the team that delivered the Venice Architecture Biennale 2023, Francesca copyedited and proofread the official catalogue.
In 2023, Francesca was editor and project coordinator for Many More Parts Than M!, a publication from The DisOrdinary Architecture Project focused on inclusion and accessibility in space and place led by disabled creativity. She copyedited, subedited and proofread all content, across print and digital, and helped produce video interviews with disabled artists, architects and other creatives.
Established in 2012, Thinking City was an editorial and events platform founded by Francesca that is dedicated to exploring urban life and inclusive cities. She grew Thinking City from an unknown blog to a widely read and celebrated platform with an international readership and 23,000 followers on Twitter. She commissioned and worked with writers from Hong Kong to Mexico City to tell stories about their cities that connect micro narratives to macro issues.
Francesca was the editor of The Bartlett Review 2022, an online zine that told engaging stories of the research undertaken by The Bartlett, the faculty of the built environment at University College London (UCL). Francesca commissioned and worked with academics and researchers to bring their work to a wide audience through compelling storytelling across text and audio, resulting in a suite of articles and two podcast episodes, co-produced by Francesca. She developed the theme, editorial strategy and social marketing strategy for the entire publication.
The London School of Architecture
During a stint as editor in 2022, Francesca helped the LSA develop and implement its editorial and content strategy, to meaningfully build and mobilise the school’s network, and champion its students. She developed a new member-based newsletter, commissioned opinion-led content around urgent themes in architecture such as displacement and fire safety, and delivered the Summer Show 2022 catalogue.
Placeholder
As part of her work at design studio make:good – which included brand strategy, communications and business growth – Francesca edited a newspaper for the practice, called Placeholder, which turned into a regular zine. With a mix of content written in-house and commissioned out, Placeholder aims to tackle key topics in the design, architecture and community engagement fields, while simultaneously promoting the work of the practice.
Francesca Perry 