Alexander Carl von Hoffman (born July 11, 1951, in

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

) is an American

urban planner An urban planner (also known as town planner) is a professional who practices in the field of town planning, urban planning or city planning. An urban planner may focus on a specific area of practice and have a title such as city planner, town ...

and

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...

. He is currently Lecturer in Urban Planning and Design at the

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

Graduate School of Design The Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) is the graduate school of design at Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It offers master's and doctoral programs in architecture, landscape architecture, urban ...

and Senior Research Fellow at Harvard's

Joint Center for Housing Studies The Joint Center for Housing Studies is a research center on housing-related issues at Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Through its research, education, and public outreach programs, the center helps leade ...

. He is a specialist on the history and policy of housing, particularly of

low-income housing Subsidized housing is government sponsored economic assistance aimed towards alleviating housing costs and expenses for impoverished people with low to moderate incomes. In the United States, subsidized housing is often called "affordable housi ...

policy in the

Career

Von Hoffman was born to Ann Cremin Byrne, daughter of the architect

Barry Byrne Francis Barry Byrne (December 19, 1883 – December 18, 1967) was a member of the group of architects known as the Prairie School. After the demise of the Prairie School, about 1914 to 1916, Byrne continued as a successful architect by dev ...

who apprenticed with

Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements o ...

, and

Nicholas von Hoffman Nicholas von Hoffman (October 16, 1929 – February 1, 2018) was an American journalist and author. He first worked as a community organizer for Saul Alinsky in Chicago for ten years from 1953 to 1963. Later, Von Hoffman wrote for ''The Washingt ...

, a descendant of

Carl von Hoffman Carl von Hoffman (c. 1889 in St. Petersburg or Latvia, Russia – 8 July 1982 in New York, New York, US) was a soldier, adventurer, author, and photographer of German people, German ancestry. He was possibly a descendant of Melchior Hoffman; jour ...

and

Melchior Hoffman Melchior Hoffman (or Hofmann; byname: ''Pel(t)zer'' "furrier"; c. 1495c. 1543) was an Anabaptist prophet and a visionary leader in northern Germany and the Netherlands. Life Hoffman was born at Schwäbisch Hall in southwest Germany before 15 ...

. Von Hoffman received a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

in English (1977), where he was honored as

summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...

, and a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

in History (1979) from the

University of Massachusetts, Boston The University of Massachusetts Boston (stylized as UMass Boston) is a public research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the only public research university in Boston and the third-largest campus in the five-campus University of Massac ...

. He then received a

(1980) and a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

(1986) in History from

. His dissertation focused on the development of

Jamaica Plain Jamaica Plain is a neighborhood of in the City of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Settled by Puritans seeking farmland to the south, it was originally part of the former Town of Roxbury, now also a part of the City of Boston. The commun ...

. Upon graduating, he was named assistant professor of urban planning at Harvard's

. In 1990, von Hoffman was promoted to the level of associate professor, a post which he held until 1995. In 1998, von Hoffman joined Harvard's

as senior fellow. From that point until present, he has also been a lecturer in urban planning and design at the Graduate School of Design. From 1995 to 2002, von Hoffman served on the board of directors of

The Bostonian Society The Bostonian Society was a non-profit organization that was founded in 1881 for the purpose of preventing the Old State House (built in 1713) from being "moved brick by brick"

, and since 2004, he has served on the board of directors of the ''

Journal of Urban History The ''Journal of Urban History'' (abbreviated ''JUH'') is a bimonthly peer-reviewed academic journal covering the field of urban studies. The current editor-in-chief is David Goldfield, who is Robert Lee Bailey Professor of History at the Unive ...

''.https://l87r32c95dp1hz05tig4px11-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Alexander-von-Hoffman-CV-9-1-2013.pdf

Selected works

*''Local Attachments: The Making of an American Urban Neighborhood, 1850 to 1920'',

Johns Hopkins University Press The Johns Hopkins University Press (also referred to as JHU Press or JHUP) is the publishing division of Johns Hopkins University. It was founded in 1878 and is the oldest continuously running university press in the United States. The press publi ...

, 1994 *''House by House, Block by Block: The Rebirth of America's Urban Neighborhoods'',

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 2003

References

External links

Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies profileHarvard GSD profileHarvard Kennedy School profile
1951 births Living people American people of German descent American people of Russian descent Historians from Massachusetts American urban planners University of Massachusetts Boston alumni Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Harvard Graduate School of Design faculty {{Planning-stub