ABSTRACT
This book investigates the development of multi-unit housing typologies that were predominant in a particular city from the 1800s to the present day. It emphasizes the importance of understanding the direct connection between housing and dwelling in the context of a city, and the manner in which the city is an instructional indication of how a housing typology is embodied. The case studies presented offer an insight into why a certain housing type flourished in a specific city. For example, why are there six-storey apartments in Paris, tenements in New York, and space-enclosing structures in Beijing? It values the importance of learning the historical trace of the different housing types in order to influence new housing design that is coherent with the development of the city.
The variety of different multi-unit housing typology case studies reviewed in this book spans across distinct cities around the world where certain housing types have prevailed. The work also pursues how those housing types developed, evolved, and helped define the city; looks into how dwellers inhabited their dwellings; and analyses how the housing typologies correlate in a contemporary context. The typologies studied are: back-to-backs in Birmingham (UK); London tenements in London; Haussmann apartments in Paris; New York tenements in New York; tong lau in Hong Kong; perimeter block, linear block, and block-edge in Berlin; perimeter block and solitaire in Amsterdam; space-enclosing structure in Beijing; micro house in Tokyo; and high-rise in Toronto.
