Humanities 254: Modern Cities (McCole)

Recreating Public Space:
The Transformation of London, Paris, and Vienna in the Nineteenth Century

I. Three cities: common histories, differences
II. Olsen’s approach: The City as a Work of Art?
III. Four things that cities do: a simple model
IV. Haussmann and Napoleon III remake Paris. Why?

1. political motives: prevent revolution
• wide boulevards: no more barricades
• isolate working class districts from one another
• force workers out of the city center

2. aesthetic vision: baroque city planning
• open spaces connected by straight streets
• vistas and monuments
• regularity and beauty

3. public health
• stop cholera epidemics
• provide sewers
• open up cramped, unhealthy neighborhoods
• provide public parks

4. traffic flow
• north-south and east-west axes
• new, wealthy suburbs in west

5. economic motives
• economic stimulus for private developers
• economic rewards for property owners
• boulevards as sites for new luxury businesses (department stores)

6. political symbolism
• self-representation of the regime
• consolidate popular support

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