Urban government and the rise of the French city

In the nineteenth century, France experienced unprecedented urban growth. City governments were faced with critical problems, among them the issues of public order, education, sanitation, welfare, and the organization of public space. Comparing the responses of five major French provincial municipalities - Lyon, Marseilles, Bordeaux, Toulouse, and Saint-Etienne - to the challenges of urbanization, this book elucidates the role city governments played in the modernization of urban France.