haussmannize

Etymology

From Haussmann + -ize.

Why this word is great

HAUSSMANNIZE — [Verb] To redevelop or rebuild an area extensively, often involving the destruction of older structures to create new urban layouts, as exemplified by Baron Haussmann's renovation of Paris. From the proper name Haussmann (referring to Georges-Eugène Haussmann, the urban planner who redesigned Paris) + the suffix -ize (indicating the act of making or transforming). Unlike "renovate" (which implies restoring what exists) or "gentrify" (which creeps in with coffee shops and rising rents), to Haussmannize is to erase and rebuild with imperial certainty. It is the straight razor of urban planning: the medieval warren of streets sliced open for grand boulevards, the working-class tenements replaced with uniform limestone façades, the city remade not for those who live there but for those who would rule it—a reminder that progress, when imposed from above, is often just another word for displacement.

verb

  1. To destroy the old in order to build the new (in the manner of Baron Haussmann's rebuilding of Paris).“They are not designed to Haussmannize a city, but to guide its future growth.”