It is no doubt that a change in the world result in changes in different aspects of the economy including a change in the physicality of different cities. The continent of Europe was marked with great change during the nineteenth century. In particular, the Industrial Revolution had changed the continent’s way of doing things in the process of production. The changes experienced in the nineteenth century sparked the urbanization of most towns and the eventual reshaping of the cities. Vienna and Paris, despite being in different countries, faced physical reshaping in a bid to conform to the changes of the nineteenth century across Europe. The two cities, among a host of several others underwent rapid changes in their physical features resulting from an increase in the number of immigrants. To cater for the burgeoning number of visitors, the cities had to change their appearance to achieve a more appealing band comfortable posture for the immigrants.

Initially, the residents of majority of the cities in Europe including Vienna and Paris had to undergo difficult livelihoods. Paris in particular is described as a city with harsh living conditions prior to the Industrial revolution. In fact, it is viewed as having had one of the highest concentrations of houses built without any plan before the nineteenth century. However, as the Industrial Revolution beckoned, more and more clouds of smoke were evidenced in the city making the sight of the city monotonous (Wiesner et al, pp 202). It is also in this city where people jostled against each other to get a share of the limited clean air in the skies of Paris. Faced with the challenges of rapid population growth, the cities had to reshape physically to cater for the dynamic needs of the people.

One of the notable physical changes to the cities was the expansion of the sewer systems of the two cities. In Paris, aqueducts were constructed to ensure a steady supply of clean water to the residents of the city. In addition, the addition of parks for recreational purposes marked physical reshaping of Paris. Moreover, there was the opening up of boulevard public transport some years later to cater for the large population of inhabitants of Paris city. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, the trams that ferried people in Paris were electrified to increase the efficiency and effectiveness with which people were transported from one place to the other. In the following century, greater effort was put in the construction of modern houses including through private investment.

The city of Vienna also sustained population growth rates that were much more than in Paris therefore requiring much more physical reshaping. The idea was to convert the congested city into a modern metropolitan area before the lapse of the nineteenth century. In 1857, Vienna approved a plan that would see the destruction of the fortifications and the expansion of the city into the surrounding areas (Wiesner et al, pp 205). In addition, the city was clearly mapped for the introduction of modern boulevards just as had happened in Paris. Along the planned boulevard route, there emerged new buildings funded by private investors that equally changed the landscape of the city. Eventually, the changes affected the physical geography of the city transforming it into one of the most efficient metropolis in Europe. The changes in both Paris and Vienna were occasioned by the changes of the nineteenth century and resulted in better cities altogether.

Works cited

Wiesner, Merry E, Andrew D. Evans, William B. Wheeler, and Julius R. Ruff. Discovering the Western Past: A Look at the Evidence. Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning, 2015. Print.

 
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