Background
information of Haussmann and Sitte:
· Haussmann was chosen by
Napoleon III to become the prefect of Seine Department in France after
Haussmann`s predecessor was sanctioned by Napoleon III. The Emperor of the
French the Second Empire assigned Haussmann to carry out the project to
transform Paris.
· Camillo Sitte is an Austrian
architect and urban planning theoretician. His work “Der Städtebau nach seinen
künstlerischen Grundsätzen” (“City Planning According to Artistic Principles”)
is universally regarded as the founding literature for urban planning and
Design.
Haussmannization
and Transformation of Paris
Pre-Haussmannization period:
Before Haussmann`s transformation of Paris,
Paris is a medieval city of irregular shape, unpleasant smell and diseases.
Stepping into the Era of Industrial Revolution, the old form of Paris can no
longer meet the needs of industrialized city as well as the aesthetic
experience of a highly industrialized capital. In this sense, the
transformation of Paris is imminent and inevitable.
Haussmannisation period:
Napoleon III handed plan of Paris with the
network of new streets drawn in different colors indicating level of urgencies
to Haussmann. Haussmann started this major transformation project and carried it
out in three phases.
Figure 1. Plan of Paris. Source: Google Image.
The first phase of the transformation is to
complete the grand croisee, which is the great cross in the center of Paris to
enhance the movement from east to west and north to south along Strasbourg and
Sebastopol.
The second phase of the transformation is building
a grand network of new Boulevards that connect to the inner city of Paris with
the ring of grand boulevards and the new railway stations.
Figure 2: The boulevard network of Paris. Source: Urban Planning
Library Cornell.
The third phase of the transformation was
planned to construct more boulevards to broaden the street and enhance the
streetscape. However, the third phase was left unfinished accompanied with
Haussmann`s sanction by the emperor due to the mounting criticism of the
project and the incredible amount of expense on the project.
The destruction of old streets expedited
the construction of new streets and Boulevards to replace the old ones.
Compared to the former type of streets, new ones are much broader, which
promoted the movement of fresh air and lights penetrating into unhealthy
quarters. This concept of design in regards to the theory of infectious
diseases is reducing the chance of spreading of disease by improving the air
quality in unhealthy quarters.
The implementation of the idea of annexing
suburban area of Paris in the process of transforming Paris successfully
enlarge the area of urban Paris. The augmentation of urban area in Paris
facilitated the population growth since more space is vacated, which can be
developed and utilized to accommodate Parisians. The growth of population
expedited the industrialization of Paris and the process towards capitalism as
it not only fulfilled the need of labor forces for production to generate
capital but also boosted the level of exchange of goods in Paris.
Legacies
of Haussmann
· Enlarged Urban Area of Paris/
Increase of population
The enlarged urban
area of Paris boosted the population growth, which then consolidated Paris`s
status as the prosperous center of trade and capital around the world.
· Transportation
The new streets and boulevard not only enhances the aesthetic
experience of the city but also improved the connection of Paris, which
facilitated the movement between the outer suburbs and the center of the city.
· Public health
- Movement of Fresh Air
Haussmann`s design of
broad new streets permits the airflow to move into the quarters more easily.
Thanks to this design, it effectively minimized the risk of spread of disease
in a large scale, which can be considered as the contribution to the
improvement of city`s public health.
- Water supply and Sewage
Before Haussmann, drinking water was insufficient to
satisfy the need of water usage in Paris as a swift-growing city. To cater the
needs of water usage, Haussmann appointed Eugene Belgrand to be in charge of
gentrifying the status of water supply and sewage in Paris. The new system of
the water supply and sewage managed to double the supply of water and increased
the capacity of flushing the sewage away from the city. The enhanced performance
of water supply system and sewage system maximized the level of hygiene in the
city by providing enough water and minimized the possibility of the spreading
of water borne disease and other infectious disease caused by the poor air
quality from the sewage.
Haussmann`s
influences on urban design and planning
Haussmann`s work of transforming Paris had
significant impact on planning of cities. For example, L` Enfant`s plan for
Washington shared Haussmann`s idea of all roads connect to the center. Coincidently,
in the master plan of Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia, people who
designed Benjamin Franklin Parkway shared the same faith with Haussmann`s idea
of all roads connect to the center.
Figure 3. L` Enfant Plan of Washington. Source: Google Image
Figure 4. Benjamin Franklin Parkway Master Plan. Source: Architectural
Record.
Haussmann`s
work in relation to social re-organization
Haussmann`s contributions towards the great
transformation of Paris is undeniable. However, while benefiting Parisians with
new streets, districts, gentrified water supply and sewage system and enhanced
air quality, Haussmann also separated people with different social classes. The
old plan of Paris was illogical and unregulated as people live in the city are
not separated by their social classes. Whereas in Haussmann`s work, people who
live in new quarters were divided by their social and economic status.
Sitte
Reared in an
atmosphere of craft, beauty and non-conforminst creativity, Sitte` thought was
never constrained. Sitte`s theory in
urban design is more concerned with urban space rather than building, which is
known as “contextualism”. In regards to cityscape, Sitte emphasize on irregular
urban structure, spacious plazas, promoted by monuments and other aesthetic
elements. Sitte`s idea with a special obsession of monuments about cityscapes,
is regarded as his pro-Germanic bias. However, given the fact that Sitte`s
cultural background is close to Germany and intensively influenced by Germanic
ideas of thought, his pro-Germanic obsession is reasonable. As Sitte said in
his letter to a friend, “the basic philosophy of his life`s work was that,
especially in art, every serious subjective feeling, every higher spiritual
aspiration must be and could only be national.” (Collins & Collins,1965).
Haussmann
and Sitte`s works in relation to streetscapes
Haussman:
Haussmann`s work in regards to streetscapes
is mainly focusing on broadening the streets, connecting all streets into the
center, framing and linking imperial monuments of the nation and the aesthetic
experience of walking on the Boulevards along with the view of Façade of
street.
Sitte:
Sitte`s works in relation to aesthetic
streetscapes are concentrating on irregular urban structure, spacious plazas
and especially the monuments and other aesthetic elements that creates the
picturesque streetscapes. In addition to this, Sitte`s theory of streetscapes
emphasize on contexts that arouses subject feeling, higher spiritual aspiration
generated from attachment to nation.
Bibliography:
Collins, G., & Collins, C.
(1965). Camillo Sitte and the birth of modern city planning. New York: Random House.
Google. (2015). L` Enfant Plan
of Washington. Retrieved from
Google. (2015). Napoleon III
Paris. Retrieved from
John W. Reps .(2015). Sitte,Limitations of Modern City Planning. Retrieved
from http://urbanplanning.library.cornell.edu/DOCS/sitte.htm
The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc,. (2015). Benjamin Franklin Parkway
Master Plan. Retrieved from http://archrecord.construction.com/features/Philadelphia-Remix/Barnes-Foundation-on-Benjamin-Franklin-Parkway-slideshow.asp?imt=drawing
Van Zanten, D. (1994). Building Paris. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
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