With Prof. Randy Lippert, University of Windsor, Canada; sponsor: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada

Since the introduction of North American condominium legislation in the 1960s, this form of ownership has grown at an astonishing rate in major urban areas such as Toronto and New York City, even during real estate market declines. Conventional wisdom is that as the population continues to age and urban space becomes even less affordable, more people will live in condominiums as either owners or tenants. Due to its distinctive mix of individually and commonly-owned property, the possibility of the condominium form depends on special arrangements of governance and social relations. However, even with the condominium’s steadily growing pervasiveness in Canada and the United States, and more recently in China and elsewhere, surprisingly little is known about these arrangements and their social impact. The objective of this research project is therefore to study condominium governance in two major North American cities where high rise condominium living is increasing: Toronto, Canada and New York City, New York. Our research questions are: 1) How is condominium life governed? and 2) What is the impact of condominium governance on the social relations of residents living in these private housing schemes? This project seeks to lend insight into this neglected realm of private governance and its social consequences.

Photo by Geoffrey Gilmour-Taylor.