ABSTRACT
A dwelling protects the survival of those whose authority over their own lives is curtailed, whether by autocracy, vows to commit residents to rules governing communal life, or to legal incarceration. Its idea-type diagram is a rectangle with interior divisions offering seclusion. In earlier ages, a dwelling was often an isolated and rudimentary residence of the poor. As cities grew, they gradually came to constitute the vast background of urban construction. In the modern era, they have received the attention of architecture but rarely with much success. Our five examples from the 13th c. to 1926 illustrate dwellings assembled into groups or included within buildings whose uses serve other roles within the civil order.
