Baron Haussmann @200, Haussmannization and creative destruction  

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creative destruction, surplus product

Baron Haussmann turned 200 in 2009.

Baron Haussmann (1809 - 1891) was a French urbanist who called himself an "artiste démolisseur," literally translated as artist destroyer, a concept with a political equivalent of creative destruction. I've mentioned Haussmann and Haussmannization here [1] and here[2].

Haussmann's renovation of Paris

Baron Georges-Eugène Haussmann (March 27, 1809January 11, 1891) was a French urbanist whose name is associated with the rebuilding of Paris. His work had destroyed much of the medieval city. It is estimated that he transformed 60% of Paris' buildings. Notably, he redesigned the Place de l'Etoile, and created long avenues giving perspectives on monuments such as the Arc de Triomphe and the Opera Garnier.

Criticism

Because of Haussmannization, that is the creative destruction of something for the betterment of society, the 1860s was a time of intense revolt in Paris. Many Parisians were troubled by the destruction of "old roots". Historian Robert Herbert says that "the impressionist movement depicted this loss of connection in such paintings as Manet's Bar at Folies." The subject of the painting is talking to a man, seen in the mirror behind her, but seems unengaged. According to Herbert, this is a symptom of living in Paris at this time: the citizens became detached from one another. "The continuous destruction of physical Paris led to a destruction of social Paris as well." Haussmann was also criticized for the great cost of his project. Napoléon III fired Haussmann on 5 January 1870 in order to improve his own flagging popularity. Haussmann was also a favorite target of the Situationist's critique; besides pointing out the repressive aims that were achieved by Haussmann's urbanism, Guy Debord and his friends (who considered urbanism to be a "state science" or inherently "capitalist" science) also underlined that he nicely separated leisure areas from work places, thus announcing modern functionalism, as illustrated by Le Corbusier's precise zone tripartition (one zone for circulation, another one for accommodations, and the last one for labour).

The changes wrought by Baron Haussmann on the streetscape of Paris were documented in the film, "Paris: Living Space", featuring Edmund N. Bacon and based on sections of his book Design of Cities.

"Paris, as we find it in the period following the Revolution of 1848, was about to become uninhabitable." [E1a,3] quoting from Maxime du Camp, Paris, vol 6 (Paris, 1875), p.253.

Narration Its population had been greatly enlarged and unsettled ... and now this population was suffocating in the narrow, tangled, putrid alleyways in which it was forcibly confined." [E1a,3] quoting from Maxime du Camp, Paris, vol 6 (Paris, 1875), p.253.]

Jules Ferry: "Les Comptes fantastiques de Haussmann"




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