The diffusion of innovations to improve the French urban environment (1890s-1940)

Abstract

The circulation of information and knowledge about sanitary engineering (water supply, sewage and solid waste disposal and treatment) from the late nineteenth century to WWII highlights a specific process of urban innovation diffusion. This process worked inside the French urban network without any strong hierarchical pattern but in a rather horizontal way, Paris being rather an exception than a replicable model. A transnational dimension appears clearly, especially in the pre-1914 period. It underlines the ability of some local governments to implement technological facilities in a context of relatively weak state expertise and intervention. A careful study of several dozens of decision-making processes, from the documentation phase to the opening ceremonies of new facilities, enables us to perceive the complex path through which modern technology penetrated cities.