From the 1860s to the present many critics of Haussman's reconstruction of Paris have charged that the talk about making the city more beautiful and more liveable was just a cover for Napoleon III real agenda -- making Paris safe from revolution. Here is an early example of that accusation.

 It must be said that what are called the embellishments of Paris are basically nothing but a general system of offensive and defensive armament against uprising, a precaution against future revolutions, which has been pursued for twelve years with an indefatigable perseverance without the ingenuous Parisian’s appearing to suspect a thing.

Quoted in T.J. Clark, The Painting of Modern Life: Paris in the Art of Manet and His Followers (New York: Alfred Knopf, 1984), p.40

Barricades in Paris During February Revolution of 1848