James Hobrecht

James Friedrich Ludolf Hobrecht (31 December 1825 in Memel – 8 September 1902 in Berlin)[1][2] was a Prussian director for urban planning.

[3] In 1841, Hobrecht broke off his school education and began an apprenticeship as geodesist (professional land surveyor) for which he passed examination in 1845.

[3] Until 1847 he was engaged in separation work (clearing the pathway of transportation projects from rocks and hills) in East Prussia as well as the Cologne-Minden Railway.

[3] James Hobrecht continued his studies in civil engineering with records of field placements at the Prussian Eastern Railway in 1857.

[3] As part of his job he traveled to Hamburg, Paris and London in 1860 to learn about the contemporary development status in urban planning especially their sewer systems.

This was enabled by his brother Arthur Hobrecht, who became lord mayor of Berlin in 1872, and Rudolf Virchow, who had already been a famous medical doctor and influential liberal politician.

He laid out plans for a radial system of 12 main routes of canalization from the city to new sewage farms on the outskirts of Berlin.

When James Hobrecht was commanded to head the urban planning commission for Berlin in 1859 he was just 34 years old and he had only minor experience compared to the size of the project which included 14 chapters.

Even the deadly street fights of fascist and communist squadrons in those area have been traced back to the Hobrecht-Plan that he created at that time.

Modern historians are more favourable as his writings do also include chapters on estimates of the social consequences and his planning was good enough for later reformations that allowed Berlin to grow successfully.

Soon after his return to Berlin he is one of the founders of the "Deutsche Vierteljahrsschrift für öffentliche Gesundheitspflege" (Quarterly Magazine on Public Health) in 1869.