Haussmann's Complicated Legacy

Georges-Eugene Haussmann’s massive renovation of Paris has a complicated legacy. Critics cite the fact that he destroyed the homes of thousands of people, many low income, giving them no place to go. He wiped out the fabric and culture of a city in the name of more picturesque cityscapes. Defenders point to the drop in crime and illnesses as a result of his renovations.

For me, I take the studying of a complicated legacy such as Haussmann’s as an opportunity to reflect on the things we are doing right now as a society that might be questionable. It’s easy to look back to the past and say we should have known better. But we are a product of our time. Our frame of reference of what is right and what is wrong is tied to our point in history.

Bear with me as I go through an extreme example. When we think about the horrors of the holocaust, we put a stop to it but not before a staggering amount of damage was done. We say to ourselves, I can’t believe the world let that happen. We should have known better. But there’s a modern day holocaust going on right now. Muslims in China are being put in “re-education camps” which are modern day internment camps. I would argue that this is not high on our global society’s list of priorities. Out of sight, out of mind I suppose. Do I think we’re all bad people, though? Of course not.

We think to ourselves now that we can’t believe Haussmann so callously displaced all of these people in Paris. But will people in 150 years look back at us and think how could we have let thousands of people live homeless on Skid Row and millions more around the country? Will we be viewed negatively for our design response to natural disaster such as Katrina?

The world will never be a perfect place but to me this is all inspiration to never stop trying. We know a problem like Skid Row is wrong. What are we doing to fix it? Sometimes it helps to think “How will our impact be remembered?” It’s not why I got into architecture, but it’s an interesting frame of reference that can be helpful.