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This thesis presents the phenomenon of communal habitation--from a traditional scene to a contemporary vista--in terms of a historical progression. It exhibits a hypothesis that attempts to justify the reason behind the deterioration of identity, livability and of neighborliness in contemporary neighborhoods. Although this thesis, in accordance with some contemporary community planning theories, pronounces the relevancy and importance of physical as well as social planning, it articulates, in line with annals of contemporary urban history, their incompetency to constitute the virtues of a good living place. In other words, urbanization, according to this thesis, is neither a mere physical pattern exhibited by fellow architects and planners, nor a sole social model manifested by some social reformers. Rather, it is a communal art the beauty of which is adorned by dwellers' goodwill and their spirit--a spirit that consequentially achieves a pleasing physical milieu, and attains a pleasant social environment.

This thesis proposes the exploration of three architectural sources that are narrative in nature: the Renaissance Entry of a Monarch as a public event in the city, the Surrealist novel as a critical medium, and the Teatro del Mondo project by Aldo Rossi for the Venice Biennale of 1979-80, in order to address the making of architecture in the contemporary city. The royal entry and the modern novel are forms that provide for possible interpretation of the city and reflect the difference between the modern and the pre-modern eras. Aldo Rossi's Teatro del Mondo as a work of architecture that was both ephemeral and a place of narrative, was a project that addressed the difficult problems of the architecture of the city. Architecture no longer participates in the realization of ritualistic narrative, as when the festival gave permanence to urban institutions by revealing the order of the Cosmos. However, there remains the necessity for architecture to engage imagination and the narratives implicit in the world.

Home-ownership is a source of security, sense of belonging and saving accumulation. In the City of Montreal only a quarter of the population own their homes. Despite the fact that the majority of renters wish to become owners, only a small fraction can afford new products of the home-building industry. In this thesis the author proposes to the industry a strategy for cost reduction: uncompleted condominiums, that are the least finished dwelling units legally allowed for living. The proposed design is analyzed from the legal, social, technical and economic points of view. The research is founded on a review of the literature, a market survey and three simulations. It was found that the proposed product might be 26-29% less expensive, than investigated examples, and could be appreciated by childless households.

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