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

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

) 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, tow ...

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 species; as well as the ...

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

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

Graduate School of Design Graduate may refer to: Education * The subject of a graduation, i.e. someone awarded an academic degree ** Alumni, a former student who has either attended or graduated from an institution * High school graduate, someone who has completed high ...

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 a subsidy 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 housing". Forms of subsidies include d ...

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

, 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 and Melchior Hoffman. Von Hoffman received a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

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 Sout ...

, and a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) 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. Those admitted to the degree have ...

in History (1979) from the

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

. He then received a

(1980) and a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

(1986) in History from

. His dissertation focused on the development of

Jamaica Plain Jamaica Plain is a Neighborhoods in Boston, neighborhood of in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Settled by Puritans seeking farmland to the south, it was originally part of Roxbury, Massachusetts, Roxbury. The community seceded from Roxbur ...

. 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 in Boston, Massachusetts, formed in 1881 as a historic preservation group. The Bostonian Society became part of the Revolutionary Spaces organization in 2020. History The Bostonian Society was f ...

, and since 2004, he has served on the board of directors of the '' Journal of Urban History''.

Selected works

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

Johns Hopkins University Press 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 publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press 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