This proposed dissertation project will thematize nineteenth-century public slaughterhouses in Paris, Berlin, and London to investigate specific interrelations among humans, animals, and the environment. It will examine the establish- and development of public abattoirs in relation to the evolving conceptions of public hygiene. Comparing and contrasting among these three cities, the project seeks to analyze the role of livestock in the life and death of growing populations and urbanizing environments. Exploring the place and process of slaughter, this project will historicize the space and social relations emerging through the transformation of animals into meat. This study hopes to contribute, most of all, to environmental and social history.