Ebook: Haussmann: Paris Transformed

The rebuilding of Paris between 1852 and 1870 by Baron Georges-Eugene Haussmann was one of the great 19th century experiments in city planning. Renowned and controversial in its own time, this project not only inspired similar urban developments throughout the world but has been the subject of continuing interest and discussion over the last fifty years. The wide boulevards, spacious parks, and improved water and sanitary systems that cut through the existing fabric of the city have aroused much criticism. On the one hand, the more nostalgic critics have rejected the Haussmannization of Paris as a mutilation of the old city with its historical associations, its intimacy, and its picturesque effects. At the other extreme, there are planners who see Haussmann as a 19th century prophet of the new order. In this volume Howard Saalman tries to judge Hausmann fro the viewpoint of the France of Napoleon III and of the 19th century in general. Dr. Saalman brings Haussmann's contributions into focus by considering how well they met the urgent needs of the day. What emerges in this reassessment is a french perspective in which Haussmann's achievement is seen as a significiant and influential 19th century solution to the problem of the burgeoning city, a redistributing process that kept the French capital a living city - and indeed the metropolis of world culture - for another century. Along with his critical evaluation of Haussmann, Dr. Saalman includes a sketch of the history of Paris since its founding and a description of the many transformations it had previously undergone. The illustrations accompanying the text include views, plans, and engravings, many of the period.