Francesca Russello Ammon

Francesca Ammon is an assistant professor in the City and Regional Planning and Historic Preservation departments at the University of Pennsylvania. An urban historian, she focuses on changes to the built environment over time. Recently, her work has centered around the urban renewal period in the mid-twentieth century.

Background and education Ammon began her studies in the fields of engineering and design, earning a B.S.E. in civil engineering from Princeton University and a Master of Environmental Design from Yale School of Architecture. She then went on to study history and American studies, earning a Master of Arts in history and a Master of Philosophy and Ph.D. in American studies, all from Yale.

Career Prior to joining the faculty at Penn, Ammon was a visiting scholar at the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. She also held a number of fellowships, beginning while she was completing her PhD as a Whiting Fellow in the Humanities, Ambrose Monell Foundation Fellow in Technology and Democracy at the Miller Center of Public Affairs, and John E. Rovensky Fellow with the Business History Conference. 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).

Digital public humanities Preserving Society Hill: Sites and Stories of Urban Renewal in a Philadelphia Neighborhood, (launched 2018). "Captioning Milton-Parc," with photographs by Clara Gutsche and David Miller, in What You Can Do with the city (Canadian Centre for Architecture), October 20, 2017.

Articles and chapters "Digital Humanities and the Urban Built Environment: Preserving the Histories of Urban Renewal and Historic Preservation,” Preservation Education and Research 10 (2018): 11–30. “Post-Industrialization and the City of Consumption: Attempted Revitalization in Asbury Park, New Jersey,” Journal of Urban History 41:2 (March 2015): 158–174. “Unearthing Benny the Bulldozer: The Culture of Clearance in Postwar Children’s Books,” Technology and Culture 53:2 (April 2012): 306–336. “Commemoration Amid Criticism: The Mixed Legacy of Urban Renewal in Southwest Washington, D.C.,” Journal of Planning History 8:3 (August 2009): 175–220. “Refuge, Resort, and Ruin: Real Estate Development and the Identity of Asbury Park, New Jersey,” in Liberty and Leisure in North America, ed. Pierre Lagayette (Paris: Presses de l’Université Paris-Sorbonne, 2008): 41–57.