The Streets of Europe by Brian Ladd

Author:Brian Ladd [Ladd, Brian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: HIS000000 History / General
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Published: 2020-09-02T00:00:00+00:00

FIG. 38. Eugène Atget, Chiffonier (ragpicker), 1899–1901. Digital image courtesy of the Getty’s Open Content Program.

Hawkers, too, were sometimes targeted on ostensible grounds of public health. Many street stands and markets were shut down for the same reason: after all, they did produce organic waste in profusion. In reducing the load of refuse in the streets, the authorities removed other things—people and commerce—as well. By the twentieth century, many street workers were uniformed public employees rather than shadowy scavengers. By the same token, where government services broke down, entrepreneurs saw an opportunity. In twenty-first-century Rome, for example, freelance immigrant street sweepers appeared after the collapse of municipal sanitation left the city awash in litter.78 To call their presence “Dickensian” might serve as a lament for the failure of government but also as praise for the revival of a community bound by informal ties.

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