Reinhard Baumeister (19 March 1833 in Hamburg - 11 February 1917 in Karlsruhe) was a German engineer and urban planner, the author of one of the earliest texts on urban planning Stadterweiterungen in technischer, baupolizeilicher und Wirtschaftlicher Beziehung (Town extensions: their links with technical and economic concerns and with building regulations) published in 1876. It was used as a textbook at the first urban planning course in Germany, at the college of technology in Aachen in 1880.[1] An early translation of one of his writings into English was The Cleaning and Sewerage of Cities published in New York in 1891.[2]
Baumeister was a professor of civil engineering with experience in railway construction when he entered the field of planning by winning the 1872 competition for the urban extension of Mannheim.[1]