What cities could have been reshaped with a massive urbanisation plan post-industrial revolution?

[Jfoul]

Watching the work of Cerda in Barcelona and Haussmann in Paris in the second half of the XIXth Century, and their impact on the development of local populations and transports, whereas other cities were content with gradually changing bits and bobs here and there and expanding on the periphery, comes the question :

What cities of that era could have greatly benefited (even aesthetically so) from a coherent and radical urbanisation plan that would have redrawn and modernised their overall structure (in Europe or America of course, but Asia or Africa could also be quite interesting)?

 

[edgeworthy]

London, although its shear size is an issue.
From 1831 to 1925 it was the World's largest city.

Which means it should have been a necessity.

 

[Roger II]

There were losses as well as gains from Hausmann I should say, and it was predicated on massive social control. That said, maybe cities that industrialized massively and were already major centers(not sure about the Manchesters and Birminghams). Maybe Hamburg or Frankfurt or another German city if Berlin isn't the main center of any unified Germany? Naples in a industrialized Sicliy or Italy that invests more in the South? It's tricky to say.

Also, FWIW's London did see massive investments in sanitation, water treatment and provision, improved transportation, etc-see the Crossness Pumping Station

 

[Jfoul]

There were losses as well as gains from Hausmann I should say, and it was predicated on massive social control.

I agree that it did not unfold without sacrifices and there was definitely an aspect of the design that was motivated by the possibility of having boulevards that could welcome a cavalry charge and artillery shots on demonstrations... or uprisings.

London, although its shear size is an issue.
From 1831 to 1925 it was the World's largest city.

Could they have done it borough by borough?

 

[Socrates]

I believe there was a plan to reshape London's road networks into concentric circles but HMG didn't want to pay for the private land purchases.

 

[edgeworthy]

London had problems with Population Density, all the people from slum clearances would have to go somewhere.
As has been mentioned the cost, especially in the wealthier and commercial areas, there was the added complication of being the world's largest port. Re-building the infrastructure would mean more bridges, which would interfere with the Port, there was enough of a fuss made over Tower Bridge at the time.

While possible, and certainly desirable, London has the problem of being the most difficult city to re-develop.
(Its notable that even post WW2, a little beyond the OP, the government didn't really try all that hard)

 

[Jfoul]

While possible, and certainly desirable, London has the problem of being the most difficult city to re-develop.

So it would need an almost extreme incentive for it to actually happen, perhaps a political upheaval .... or another great fire.

 

[Jfoul]

reshape London's road networks into concentric circles

That would almost have a steampunk ring to it.

 

[Escape Zeppelin]

So it would need an almost extreme incentive for it to actually happen, perhaps a political upheaval .... or another great fire.

That still faces the same problem the redevelopment plan after the Great Fire and the concentric circle plan failed: property rights in England meant that the government would have to pay for every piece of land they wanted to move/develop, even fire damaged empty plots. It was just too expensive.

 

[Roger II]

Other examples of OTL redevelopments: the Ringstrasses of various cities, the Piazza Della Republicca of Florence etc.

 

[stevej713]

The Chicago fire was probably the best thing that happened to the city. I imagine any city would benefit from a similar disaster, assuming they had the resources to rebuild.

 

[Roger II]

Er minor nitpick-Chicago's layout was unaffected by the fire. I assume the big difference was rebuilding with stricter fire codes.

 

[Jfoul]

Other examples of OTL redevelopments: the Ringstrasses of various cities, the Piazza Della Republicca of Florence etc.

Those are quite interesting indeed, but they are not as large-scale as Barcelona or Paris, from my understanding Ringstrasses were more at the periphery... and I'm not too knowledgeable about the Italian Risanamento. By the looks of it though, it actually has a lot of potential for reshaping Italian cities!

An urbanist TL with a more radical Risanamento could be very interesting actually !

 

[Frrf]

I suspect the easiest way to answer this would be to look at which cities grew the most in that period. Massive popilation growth creates a justification for overhauling the city centre.

 

[SealTheRealDeal]

Budapest absolutely exploded in size from the mid 1800s until WWI. Have it get razed durring the 1848 revolution and it could possibly be rebuilt to better accommodate it's later growth (and some Paris-esque security measures to make the city more easily policed would be likely).

 

[Jfoul]

which cities grew the most in that period.

The american cities come to mind, but as their layout was not as ancient, they may need less of a overhaul. The most interesting is old established cities that would need a big change as part of their modernisation or of new political paradigms being implemented.

Have it get razed durring the 1848 revolution and it could possibly be rebuilt to better accommodate it's later growth

That sounds cool! I wonder what a full scale reshaping with a mid XIXth Century Hungarian architecture would look like... with perhaps a bit of Austrian flavour in the mix.

 

[Hvalrossen]

London had problems with Population Density, all the people from slum clearances would have to go somewhere.
As has been mentioned the cost, especially in the wealthier and commercial areas, there was the added complication of being the world's largest port. Re-building the infrastructure would mean more bridges, which would interfere with the Port, there was enough of a fuss made over Tower Bridge at the time.

While possible, and certainly desirable, London has the problem of being the most difficult city to re-develop.
(Its notable that even post WW2, a little beyond the OP, the government didn't really try all that hard)

Maybe if London had gotten the Rotterdam treatment, then it would be more feasible to reshape London?

 

[SealTheRealDeal]

That sounds cool! I wonder what a full scale reshaping with a mid XIXth Century Hungarian architecture would look like... with perhaps a bit of Austrian flavour in the mix.

Sarajevo may provide an idea. It had been gutted by fire shortly after the Austro-Hungarian occupation and the Habsburgs extensively redesigned it, notably featuring a system of electrically driven trams for public transportation.

 

[Jfoul]

Sarajevo may provide an idea. It had been gutted by fire shortly after the Austro-Hungarian occupation and the Habsburgs extensively redesigned it, notably featuring a system of electrically driven trams for public transportation.

I just read about it... that looks great !... I guess the Ottoman flavour here and there would not be present in Hungary though.

Budapest was around five times the size of Sarajevo at the time, that leaves a whole lot of room for possibilities, perhaps making it the more modern and fast expanding rival to Vienna's classicist imperial style.

the Rotterdam treatment

What was it?

 

[Nassirisimo]

Cairo? Parts of the city saw extensive re-modelling during the 19th century, especially during the cotton boom of the 1860s. As more and more Europeans moved into the city, an increasing portion of it took on a more European appearance outside the old Islamic quarters closer to the old citadel. Supposing that Egypt is even more economically successful in Ismail's rule, could the majority of Cairo resemble a European city in appearance (and to extent, by population) by the 1880s?