To reshape or modernize a city according to the principles of Haussmann's urban planning, typically involving demolition and reconstruction of wider, more ordered streets.
From the name of Baron Haussmann plus the verb suffix -ize, meaning to cause to be or become; coined to describe the replication of Haussmann's planning methods elsewhere.
When Paris got 'haussmannized,' the old medieval streets disappeared—and the word became a verb meaning to completely remake a city, showing how powerful urban vision can literally change language.
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