The purpose of this thesis is to explore certain of the dynamics associated with the physical transformation of cities, using Montreal between 1846 and 1918 as a case study. Beyond the typical description or classification of urban forms, this study deals with the essential problem of how changes in form occurred as the city underwent a rapid growth and industrialization. Drawing insights from three different bodies of research---neoclassical theories of land rent, Marxian theories of capital accumulation, and space syntax theories of urban form---a theoretical and methodological approach is formulated which considers the city as a dynamic system, and acknowledges circulation as the driving force behind urban morphological change. It is argued that the built form of Montreal was continuously shaped and reshaped by the evolving strategies of a local "growth machine" which sought to reduce the turnover time of capital by "redimensioning" the urban "vascular system": that is, the streets, sidewalks, tracks, bridges, elevators, and canals, within which circulation takes place. This claim is interrogated and developed in each chapter through a series of empirical analyses utilizing evidence from several high-quality sources (e.g. atlases, municipal tax rolls, city surveyor reports, building inspector reports, photographs, and newspapers) to investigate the critical processes of building and rebuilding associated with phenomena such as destructive fires, the modernization of the port, street widenings, and the reconfiguration of the street grid. Each investigation explores the relationship between circulation and urban morphology. The series of investigations revealed certain regularities with respect to the spatial and temporal properties of morphological change. Consistent with expectations based on existing theories and research, the findings confirm the importance of centrality and accessibility to urban form, for the distribution of rents, and for patterns of land
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.38193 |
| Date | January 2001 |
| Creators | Gilliland, Jason A. |
| Contributors | Olson, Sherry H. (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Doctor of Philosophy (Department of Geography.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001871914, proquestno: NQ78690, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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