An Analysis On Paris'transformation In 19th Century

The transformation of city is an essential issue in the study of city history. As a conjunction of human economic and cultural life, the development of city is closely related to the development of its social economy.Before Industry Revolution, the city's function is quite simple, which would be a political, military or local business center, mostly a consumption market center of the society. As the ongoing development of its social economy, the city's function should become more multi-direction, not only have the productive function but also the modern transportation and perfect living utility. Thus the city itself should be transformed to fit the changing situation.With the Industry Revolution, some cities, especially some comprehensive metropolises, were facing the process of old cities' transformation. For these cities were established long time ago, their inhabitations, the streets and the municipal utilities were out-of-date and couldn't adapt to the new needs of development. The tasks of old city's transformation thus were been put into the historical schedule. Although the time and methods of each city's transformation were different, they all share a common view: to change the traditional manual workshops into the modern factories; to transform the business consumption city into a productive city which focus on industry; to let the political, military citybecome a new one of capitalism.In the wave of transformation, the reform of Paris was very typical. Before Industry Revolution, Paris was a feudal dynasty capital, whose main theme was about the politics, and other aspects were integrated around it. With the rapid development of economy and the increasing of population, the Old Paris was unendurable. Furthermore, the development of the new industrial economy also needed a totally new Paris.During 1852-1870, an amazing reform of Paris, strongly supported by the III Napoleon, was initiated on a grand and spectacular scale. The reform included three stages. The first stage was focus on the re-plan and rebuild of the downtown. The second stage enlarged the city so that the area was doubled. The roads were rebuilt to connect the old Paris with the suburb (the area of new city). Including the final two years transformation, the whole work or Paris reform lasted 17 years, which gave a completely new outlook to the ancient city. There were 27,000 old houses demolished and 100,000 new dwellings built; 8 bridges built or rebuilt; 70 kilometers of streets extended; 4 big parks planed and constructed. This reform let the ancient city acquired a bright look. Its transportation system and public utility were all improved. The city population then increased from 1,200,000 to 2,000,000. In general, the life of Paris became more glorious.