Francesca Recchia is a researcher and writer based in Kabul, Afghanistan. She is currently working as Acting Director of the Institute of Afghan Arts and Architecture at Turquoise Mountain.

She is interested in the geopolitical dimension of cultural processes and in recent years has focused her research on urban transformations, creative practices and intangible heritage in countries in conflict.

Her work is grounded on an interdisciplinary approach that combines Urban, Visual and Cultural Studies.

Francesca was a Research Associate at the Centre of South Asian Studies. SOAS, London, a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Bartlett School of Planning, University College of London, has a PhD in Cultural Studies at the Oriental Institute in Naples and a Masters in Visual Cultures at Goldsmiths College, University of London. She is now a Visiting Lecturer at Università Bocconi in Milan.

She is the author of three books: The Little Book of Kabul (with Lorenzo Tugnoli), Picnic in a Minefield and Devices of Political Action. Collective Towns in Iraqi Kurdistan (with a photo-essay by Leo Novel)

She was the director of the 4th Afghan Contemporary Art Prize in Kabul and of Caravanserai -Kabul in Karachi.