The purpose of this thesis is to explore several issues regarding the industrial geography of the North American city between 1850 and 1918, using Montreal as a case-study. The two dominant locational theories (Weberian and transactional) are critiqued and three problems are identified: their reliance on simplistic conceptions of industrial organization; their inability to take account of cycles of investment; and their neglect of the social construction of the built environment. A reformulation of urban industrial geography is presented which stresses the diversity of productive strategies open to industries; the relationship of these strategies to rhythms of changes to technology, the labour process, and the organizational structure of firms; and the actions of local growth machines in the making of industrial space. These claims are developed through an empirical examination of Montreal. Using the municipal tax assessment rolls a description of the location of Montreal's manufacturing firms in 1861 and 1890 establishes the context for a discussion of the key dynamics of the city's industrial geography through histories of selected industries (clothing, metal, cotton, and baking) and industrial districts (Saint-Ann and Saint-Henri).

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