What's your take on what exactly happened under Napoleon III in the mid-19th century and whether you think that the price that was paid for the modernization and improvement of the sanitations and sewage and so forth, whether that price was too high to pay? Can you just describe to begin with what were the major transformations that Paris underwent?

Certainly.

In the mid-19th century, during the Second Empire, so roughly from 1853 to 1870, Napoleon III asked the Baron Georges-Jean Haussmann to complete his vision for transforming Paris.

And he specifically gave the instructions to aerate, unify, and beautify Paris.

So aérer, unifier, et embellir Paris.

And so coming back to what we were discussing earlier about beauty being a core feature of the city, it was quite literally part of the urban planning project for the city.

And this did involve extensive destruction.

What do you think?