Until the past few hundred years of merchant banking driven economic activity, the greatest examples of urban design and housing was conceived by governments and not private enterprise. Two classic examples of the transformation of slums to modern cities and housing was the transformation of Paris and London (also taking into account the damage to slums from the Great Fire of London in 1666). The re-imagining of both cities is living proof that even the worst examples of slums can be transformed and that if you really wanted to end poverty, then you would stop building slums for profit and start building sustainable homes and community spaces.