Robert von Mahs
Urban Studies Associate Professor; Urban Studies and Environmental Studies Chair; Lang Faculty Sophomore Advisor
Email
freiherr@newschool.edu
Office Location
A - 66 West 12th Street
Profile
Dr. von Mahs joined the New School in 2005. He received a Ph.D. in Sociology and Social Policy from the University of Southampton, United Kingdom. His research and teaching interests include poverty and homelessness, comparative social policy analyses, globalization processes, social control and the criminalization of the poor, social movements, and ethnography. Dr. von Mahs has been awarded grants from the German Marshall Fund, the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, and the Fulbright Commission. Prior to coming to the New School he taught at Temple University and the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
Degrees Held
- PhD in Sociology and Social Policy, University of Southampton, Southampton UK, 2005
- Master of Arts in Geography, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, 1996
Recent Publications
- von Mahs, Jürgen (2013). Down and Out in Los Angeles and Berlin: The Sociospatial Exclusion of Homeless People. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
- von Mahs, Jürgen (2021) Wishing the Wall Back: The Struggles of Eight “Unification Losers” in Post-socialist Berlin. Urban Geography, 42:9, 1310-1332
- von Mahs, Jürgen (2018). „1933,“ Or What Hitler’s Ascendency Teaches Us About Authoritarianism: 10 Historic Lessons For The Age Of Trump (Feature Essay) Public Seminar, October 08, 2018. Available at: http://www.publicseminar.org/2018/10/1933-or-what-hitlers-ascendency-teaches-us-about-authoritarianism/
- von Mahs, Jürgen (2016). Better must Come, Exiting Homelessness in two Global Cities (Book Review) International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 40(2): 477-479.
- von Mahs, Jürgen (2015). On the Other Side of the Berlin Wall: East Germany and the Fall. Public Seminar, Oct. 29, 2015. http://www.publicseminar.org/2015/10/on-the-other-side-of-the-berlin-wall/#.WeuhbtOGPaY
- von Mahs, Jürgen (2014). Besides One’s Self: Homelessness Felt and Lived (Book Review). Social and Cultural Geography, 15 (2): 231-233.
- von Mahs, Jürgen (2013). Punitive Approaches and Welfare Intervention: Reflections and Future Research Directions. European Journal of Homelessness, 7 (2), December 2013: 391-396.
- von Mahs, Jürgen (2013). Xavier de Souza Briggs, Susan J. Popkin and Jon Goering 2010: Moving to Opportunity: The Story of an American Experiment to Fight Ghetto Poverty and. Jim Silver 2011: Good Places to Live: Poverty and Public Housing in Canada. Winnipeg: Fernwood Publishing. (Book Review) International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 37(6): 2231-2235.
- von Mahs, Jürgen (2013). Get Lost! The Impact of Punitive Policy on Homeless People’s Life Chances in Berlin. In Lippert, Randy and Kevin Walby. Policing Cities: Urban Securitzation and Regulation in a Twenty-first Century World. Routledge (Routledge Series Frontiers in Criminal Justice)
- von Mahs, Jürgen (2013) Engaging, Examining, and Overcoming Urban Homelessness: The Prospects of Critical Civic Engagement in New York City. Symposium on Building and Sustaining Community-University Partnerships in Urban Areas. Journal of Geography, 112 (2), 43-57.
- von Mahs, Jürgen.(2012). A “Buddy Researcher?” Prospects, Limitations, and Ethical Considerations in Ethnographic Research on Homeless People in Berlin. In Valado, Martha Trenna and Randall Amster (eds). Ethics and Advocacy in Research with Homeless People. Lexington Books, Oxford.
- von Mahs, Jürgen and Donald Mitchell (guest editors, 2011). The Americanization of Homelessness. Urban Geography, 32 (7), 923-1085.
- von Mahs, Jürgen (2011) Introduction: An Americanization of Homelessness in Post-Industrial Countries. Urban Geography, 32 (7), 923-932.
- von Mahs, Jürgen (2011) Homelessness in Berlin: Between Path-dependence. Urban Geography, 32 (7), 1023-1042.
- DeVerteuil, Geoffrey, Jon May, and Jürgen von Mahs (2009) Complexity not Collapse: Recasting Geographies of Homelessness in the Punitive Age. Progress in Human Geography, Vol. 33, Oct. 2009, pp. 646 - 666
Current Courses
- Senior Thesis Fall
UENV 4210 - Fall 2026 - Dynamic Metropolis
ULEC 2620 - Fall 2026 - Drugs in the City
UURB 2501 - Fall 2026 - Independent Study
UURB 3950 - Fall 2026 - Senior Seminar Fall
UURB 4900 - Fall 2026
Future Courses
- Urban Community Lab
UURB 3505 - Spring 2027 - Independent Study
UURB 3950 - Spring 2027
Past Courses
- Environment and Society
UENV 2000 - Spring 2026 - Senior Thesis Spring
UENV 4211 - Spring 2026 - Independent Study
UURB 3950 - Spring 2026 - Senior Thesis Spring
UURB 4901 - Spring 2026