Typology as an Analytical Tool: Deriving Quality in Multi-Unit Residential Dwellings in Waterloo Region

Abstract

This thesis addresses Canada’s worsening housing crisis by addressing housing quality. This study of housing quality is timely, as the Government of Canada has proposed plans to deliver an unprecedented supply of new housing, endeavoring to build 3.5 million units to restore peak affordability by 2030. Undoubtedly, increasing the supply of housing improves housing affordability, but this strategy still lacks a critical consideration of the types and quality of housing units being constructed. Beyond affordability, both the UN and CMHC recognize housing as a human right and as more than just shelter; housing should be secure in tenure, serviced, habitable, accessible, well-located, and culturally adequate.

This thesis is part of a larger SSHRC research site, The Long-Term Cost of the Rapid Construction of Multi-Unit Residential Buildings (MURBs) in Waterloo Region. Within this research site an understanding and analysis of architectural quality in multi-unit residential buildings is being pursued. This thesis focuses on dwellings within multi-unit residential buildings.

In particular, the thesis asks how the diagramming of architectural drawings can be used to analyze architectural quality in multi-unit residential dwellings. From the collaboration between this thesis research and the research site, three forms of housing alienation have been identified: poor livability, disconnection from the outdoors and nature, and impractical dwellings. These forms of housing alienation are issues tied to resident experience and housing quality that have adverse effects on the mental and physical well-being of residents. These issues are hypothesized to arise from decisions embedded in the architectural and spatial systems in which residents dwell. By directing attention to these components, the analysis can more precisely trace how formal, spatial, and organizational choices shape the lived realities of past and contemporary MURBs.