Dr. Alec Stewart

Biography

Alec Stewart is an architectural urban historian focused on how globalization, mobility, consumer cultures, and racialization shape the built environment. His writing has explored the revitalization of aging strip malls and the role of immigrant entrepreneurs, the importance of public transportation, and the phenomenon of swap meets as nodes of transnational urbanism in the late twentieth century. He is currently writing a book titled 'Meet Swap Meet: Production Transformation in Multiethnic Marketplaces in Los Angeles,' which traces how Asian American swap meet entrepreneurs influenced the emergence of West Coast Hip Hop music and fashion. Dr. Stewart earned his PhD in architecture with a focus on history, theory, and society from the University of California, Berkeley, following a master's degree in human geography from George Washington University, and a bachelor's degree in geography with a minor in city planning from the University of California, Berkeley. Before pursuing his doctoral studies, he worked as an urban land use analyst in Washington, DC, and as a city planner in Oakland, California. He currently serves on the board of directors for the Vernacular Architecture Forum and is a dedicated educator and mentor, having taught courses in urban studies, city planning, and architectural history at various universities including the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Pennsylvania, Mills College, Northeastern University, and the University of San Francisco.

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