Mapping the Metropolis: Analysing Map Production in Lyon and São Paulo in the First Half of the Twentieth Century

This work has been part of a larger project between the universities of Lyon in France and São Paulo in Brazil—the USP-COFECUB project Uc Sh 152-14 (“Dynamiques d'urbanisation et représentations spatiales: l’approche géohistorique des territoires sous SIG”). Many people involved in the project have contributed to the discussions leading to this paper, and some of their names will appear as sources in the present article.

The website made by the city of São Paulo to display historical data can be the first resource with official sources: http://​smdu.​prefeitura.​sp.​gov.​br/​historico_​demografico/​. For the first period, many of the photographs come from the Álbum Comparativo da Cidade de São Paulo, 1862–1887, from Militão Augusto de Azevedo, existing in the Acervo IMS. See also Fernandes et al. (2012).

See the work of Beatriz Piccolotto Siqueira Bueno (2016) that retraces the city’s thorough transformation from the nineteenth to the beginning of the twentieth century.

Like the 1881 maps produced by Henry P. Joyner (Cia. Cantareira de Águas e Esgotos) Planta da Cidade de São Paulo, Scale: 1:5000, which better depict buildings and the real occupation of new city areas, cf. at http://​smdu.​prefeitura.​sp.​gov.​br/​historico_​demografico/​img/​mapas/​1881.​jpg

For an interpretation of the diverse views of Lyon see the exhibition catalogue that portrays Lyon in the nineteenth century “L’esprit d’un siècle—Lyon 1800–1914” and Petermann (2016). For a detailed and long-term analysis of the city’s buildings, see the various work of B. Gauthiez, especially Gauthiez (2006, 2012, 2014) where there is mention to the precocity of high-rise buildings and also alignment plans in Lyon.

Exceptions can be found in some of the development plans made in the eighteenth century, like those of Morand, the Projet d'un plan général de la ville de Lyon et de son agrandissement, en forme circulaire, dans les terrains des Brotteaux, made in 1764 (see AML 3S0115), or Moithey's Plan historique de la ville de Lyon et de ses quartiers, assujetti à ses accroissements, embellissements et projets made in 1786 (AML 3S0694), but that doesn’t occur frequently.

See the texts assembled in the Forma urbis exhibition, from P. Sarocchi (1999) and Vanario (1999) for more specific information.

According to Sarocchi (1999), L. Dignoscyo had been responsible for more than 200 detailed reports (“dossiers de masse” in the language of the HCL)—which detailed with many maps and texts, the terms under which each parcel was to be administered.

From Polish origin, E. Rembielinski was a political refugee in France since 1832. Cartographer and engraver by training, his career was divided between Paris and Lyon and his son, Jules Rembielinski would first collaborate with his father and afterwards with his uncle, Claude Dignoscyo, see Sarocchi (1999).

These two maps can be seen nowadays on the website of the municipal archives from Lyon: http://​www.​fondsenligne.​archives-lyon.​fr/​. One interesting feature is that they are both north-oriented, in the scale of 1:40,000. The first map is dedicated to the new Prefect, C. Vaîsse, imposed on Lyon by the Parisian government—Rembielinski’s address is also located in Paris.

A first analysis of the authors and dates of publication shows the existence of different “waves” of publication and a very logical distribution of the areas of the city: a great part of the old city (center and west of Lyon, with the district of Vaise) is entrusted first to Balthazard Vignat, which produced 111 sheets between 1863 and 1876, at the time of the launch of the project; the left bank of the Rhône River is shared between E. Simon (10 sheets created in 1869), G. Mermet (45 sheets in 1878–1879 and 1905–1912), later associated with A. Vernay to produce 98 maps between 1885 and 1896. If G. Mermet guarantees continuity in the passage from one century to another, at a time when the rhythm of publication seems to diminish, in the twentieth century other names are associated with this systematic survey, especially Joanny Guillermain, which reaches 88 plans made between 1913 and 1926 and guarantees a significant recovery, visible shortly after World War I. The other surveyors involved, for example, Georges Berthier (responsible for 23 sheets between 1965 and 1969), Perraud (4 in 1966), Jean-Claude Sorro (a plan in 1970, and Roger Arnaud in 1970) complete the collection in the second half of the twentieth century, emphasizing mainly during the recovery of production that occurs after World War II.

See http://​www.​archives-lyon.​fr/​archives/​sections/​fr/​archives_​en_​ligne/​le_​territoire/​cartes_​et_​plans

The establishment of plans at the 1:1000 scale, also by 1:500 reduction techniques, was valued at 14 francs per hectare (2 francs less than the 1: 500 revision) and should be carried out for 4 years. But after several delays and time extensions, the surveyor strove to finish 103 sheets by December 31, 1939!

For a detailed report on this subject, see De Biaggi (2016).