Abstract

In the pages that follow, this thesis examines the urbanisation, industrialisation, and regeneration processes that have shaped the built landscape along Montréal's Lachine Canal. Adopting an approach that sees urban tissue as more than the simple result of agents' interventions, that is to say as a structuring influence itself, the thesis critically examines the history and geography of urban industrialisation, particularly in relation to Montréal, and takes a look at contemporary redevelopment paradigms. After putting forward a morphological methodology and offering a short history of the Canal, the thesis presents the results of an in-depth analysis of urban tissues in adjacent industrial sectors. Proposing a typology of industrial complexes and sectors rooted in the degree of differentiation between industrial elements and the surrounding urban tissue, this thesis argues that urbanisation, industrialisation, and regeneration are diffuse, incremental processes that dialectically engage with the landscapes left by the past. The thesis wraps up with a discussion of the historiographical and practical implications of such a perspective.