Haussmann's Paris

In 1853, Napoleon III named Baron Haussmann Prefect Of The Seine, thus beginning the project of "strategic beautification" that would transform the face of Paris. Haussmann destroyed vast areas of the the old city, replacing them with wide boulevards structured along central axes. The boulevards restructured public life in a variety of ways: they became the site of a new urban spectacle of strolling and socializing at the myriad cafés that lined the new streets, while at the same time allowing for the increased traffic of the ever expanding city. The social agenda behind this urban renewal was multifold. The broad boulevards were too wide to be barricaded by lower-class insurgents and wide enough to roll tanks down to suppress revolution. The luxurious apartment buildings that lined the boulevards were exclusively aimed at the bourgeoisie, and the working classes were pushed from the city center to the periphery.
 
In Les Comptes fantastiques d'Haussmann, contemporary Jules Ferry lamented the loss of "the old Paris, the historical, thinking Paris which is now at its last gasp; the Paris of art and philosophy, where people could live a modest life on three thousand francs a year and devote themselves to intellectual pursuits; where there were such things as groups, and neighborhoods, and quarters, and local traditions; where the oldest of relationships and most precious of habits were not threatened at every moment by the fear of expropriation; where the artisan, who is now being expelled without mercy from the center of Paris, lived side by side with the man of affairs; where intellect was prized above wealth..." The stark contrast between rich and poor was highlighted by the new urban landscape of Haussmann's Paris, and poets such as Baudelaire wrote verse that reflected the fragmented and alienating experience of city life in the Second Empire. [See for example, "A une passante"; "Les Yeux des pauvres"; and "La Perte d'auréole."]
 
Haussmann's enormous project also included the creation of an extensive sewer system beneath the streets of Paris, gas lights to replace oil lanterns, artesian wells to help prevent cholera, and a system of parks and gardens throughout the city to provide green open spaces within the crowded urban landscape.