Taming the City

1. Taming the City Erin Brown, Sara Brown, Jasmin Diaz, Hannah Howerton, Melanie Lee

2. Industry and the Growth of Cities • European cities had been centers of government, culture, and large-scale commerce. • congested, dirty, and unhealthy due to overcrowding • Infectious diseases spread quickly • Widespread poverty, lack of urban transportation, lack of medical knowledge, and overcrowding made it hard to improve the unsanitary conditions. • People in France and Britain began to worry about these conditions.

3. Cont. • Every scrap of land was used to its fullest extent. • Parks and open areas were almost non-existent. • Narrow houses (row houses) were built wall to wall. • Buildings were built on the smallest possible lots. • Many lived in extremely small, overcrowded cellars or attics. • Toilet facilities were undeveloped or primitive. • Sewage overflowed into cellar dwellings or became dunghills.

4. Who was Responsible for This? • Growing population and lack of public transportation were crucial factors. • The gov. in Great Britain was slow to improve sanitation and building codes. • The pre-existing housing conditions along with lack of public concern was most responsible.

5. Edwin Chadwick • Was a Benthamite- a follower of radical philosopher Jeremy Bentham • Believed in solving public problems rationally and scientifically • Became convinced that disease and death could be prevented by cleaning the environment • Collected reports on workers’ sanitation and published his findings in 1842 • Connected disease with filthy living conditions • His report became the basis for Britain’s public health law and formed a national health board

6. Public Health and the Bacterial Revolution • Won support in the US, France, and Germany • Cities were progressing towards higher health standards • Miasmatic Theory: • Belief that people contract disease when they breathe the odors of decay and excrement • Soon replaced by new medical discoveries • Germ Theory • Developed by Louis Pasteur • Stated that diseases were caused by germs ; could be controlled in liquids through pasteurization (heating the beverage could kill the bacteria) • Led to the development of effective vaccines

7. Cont. • Antiseptic Principle • Developed by Joseph Lister • Showed connection between bacteria in the air and wound infection • proposed that a chemical disinfectant could destroy germs • In response, German surgeons began to sterilize surgical equipment. • Decrease in mortality rates and diseases after 1880

8. Urban Planning • Urban planning was one of the keys to improving urban quality of life • France took lead in the role of Napoleon III • Believed that by providing employment, improving living conditions it would successfully improve Paris • Paris was transformed in 20 years with the help of authoritarian planner, baron Georges Haussman. • demolished old buildings to make boulevards • New streets promoted better homes • Parks were built • Other cities followed Paris’s example

9. Public Transportation • Was of great importance to the improvement of urban living conditions • European countries developed the electric streetcar in 1890’s • Were cheaper, faster, and dependable • People used it more • Governments built new electric streetcar systems in early 20th century • Better form of transportation allowed the middle class to move to better houses • Allowed cities to expand