Academic staff profile Dr Francisca Lima

Francisca is the organiser of the following courses: History of Landscape Architecture (MLA); Landscape Architecture Theory 1A&2B (MA); and Placement Research (MA), where she supports the acquisition of the research skills necessary for the development of students’ final dissertations. She has also been organising and delivering an elective course entitled ‘Landscapes of Abandonment and Inhabitation’ where students are invited to reflect upon the concepts of ‘landscape’, ‘nature’, ‘wilderness’ and ‘environment’ through the perspective of historical and contemporary periods of population expansion and contraction.

Francisca is interested in the relationships between man and place, landscape perception and aesthetics, and the importance of communities in strengthening citizens' role in contemporary and historical urban governance. More specifically, Francisca has examined the impacts of depopulation on urban landscapes and urban dwellers’ perceptions in her doctoral project.

Francisca has also co-chaired the conferences, 'Shrinking Cities I Expanding Landscapes' (2013) and 'Landscape and Life' (2017), with the support of the University of Edinburgh and Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, respectively, among several other sponsors. Following the former, Francisca was invited as a guest co-editor of a special issue for the Landscape Research Journal (Nov. 2017). 

Between 2009 and 2012, Francisca was engaged in the production of the anthology 'Landscape Philosophy' as part of the remit of two research projects based at the Philosophy Centre of the University of Lisbon.