Convenience and efficiency have become the raison d'être of the 20th century. As the nascent markets of industrialism led to the commercial markets of consumerism, Washington, D.C. and Paris, France, competed to be the newest and most efficient. As cities became more efficient, they also became more automated: both in terms of their infrastructure and their people. It is the nature of a city to be a hive for large numbers of people, integrating them into various systems that meet their common needs. But with technological capitalist advances, this automation extends beyond shopping, into life. Whether it was a subway system, an airport, a network of houses, or renovated road networks, 20th-century cities took urban planning a step further than Haussman and Washington. , or The Child Ever Did It - they began to function like machines. Not only were they more discreet; setting defined boundaries and creating a localized city based on a central core, but mass production has changed the way they operate. The 19th century was characterized by the mass production of objects; that which was previously made by a craftsman in a workshop was made of iron with machines and hundreds of hands in a factory. However, at the dawn of the 20th century, bringing with it electricity and production on an unprecedented scale, consumerism was not just a new trend. It became modernism – a lifestyle. Cultural commentary abounded in response to the trend of modernism that was taking over urban life. The new developments generated excitement, and as artists saw these ideas coming to fruition around them, they began to emulate (and mock) their ubiquity. Jacques Tati was the most ridiculed name in 1960s France, and in his 1967 film Playtime, he ridiculed that greatness. In a... middle of paper ... that just as the world had learned to mass produce objects, it had also managed to mass produce lives. While this may be an extreme position, it is indisputable that convenience and efficiency, which in turn lead to greater profits in the business world, have been the drivers of development in both Paris and Washington , D.C. Surpassing the past obsession with beautification, these new pragmatic ideals became the status quo, and citizens' lives became saturated with consumption to fuel the cycle. Almost everything has been affected in one way or another by this growing mentality, from simple zeal in planning and real estate, to huge systematic installations. Although their effect on the psyche of citizens is questionable, the universal concepts of convenience and efficiency reigned supreme in Paris, France, and Washington, D.C...