Florencia Quesada Avendaño is adjunct professor in World Cultures, University of Helsinki. Trained as a historian her research interests include urban cultural history, sustainable tourism, violence and urban segregation. Currently, her research focuses on Guatemala City, first on a historical analysis of the urban and cultural transformation of the capital between 1880 and 1930. Guatemala City is also the subject of another project that she is involved that looks at fragile cities of the global South, specifically the impact of violence and environmental risks on precarious settlements. 

Formerly, she was a research fellow at the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies (UH) (2016-2019) and university researcher at Global Development Studies, UH in the Academy of Finland funded project FCITIES: Societal security, environmental vulnerability and redistributive justice in fragile cities of the global South (Anja Nygren coordinator, 2016-2020, working full time 2019-2020)

She earned her PhD in Latin American Studies from the UH, a Diplome D'Etudes Approffondies in history from Université Paris 1-Sorbonne and a master’s degree in history from the University of Costa Rica. She has carried out primary research in Guatemala, Honduras, and Costa Rica, and in archives in France, Spain, and the United States.

Before coming to Finland from Costa Rica, she was a researcher at Centro de Investigaciones Históricas de América Central (CIHAC) at the University of Costa Rica, and at the Department of Education of the Central Bank Museums.

Quesada has published on Central American urban cultural history, planning and sustainable tourism. Her latest book about the urban modernization in San José, Costa Rica received the 2011 Cleto González Víquez Award from the Academy of Geography and History of Costa Rica.