Live/Work/Play: Rethinking the Home for Contemporary Families in North America Through Urban Housing Designed for the Family Life Cycle

Abstract

Responding to the diversified family typologies of today and the cultural shift leading young families to prefer urban living, Live/Work/Play seeks to create a viable urban alternative to the suburban home as the ‘ideal family housing form’. Through an analysis of the current North American family housing model and the current urban housing model, this thesis proposes to facilitate long-term family living in dense, urban areas through design for the entirety of the family life cycle at three scales; the neighbourhood, the building, and the unit. The theories comprising this methodology will then be tested in a design project based in Halifax, Nova Scotia; a city currently undergoing increased urban housing development, though thoroughly lacking in family-friendly design.