Abstract

Condominiums are present in urban skylines throughout the world, including Canada. The condominium literature helpfully identifies the political-economic actors behind their development. However, it misses the role of urban planning and, in particular, the ways that planners’ pursuit of sustainability goals relates to condominium developments and “condo-ism”. This research, focused on urban planning in the Namur de la Savane sector of Montréal, aims to answer the following question: How do environmental and social sustainability policies promote condominiums as the ideal form of urbanism? What are the social consequences of this ideal form of urbanism? To answer these questions, I used document analysis of various planning documents and policies between 2004 and 2020. The document analysis showed how planners pursue ecological sustainability through the promotion of green urban landscapes, density, and transit-oriented development. The pursuit of social sustainability appears in these documents in the limited form of “social mix,” including some support for social housing. The implications here are twofold. First, the pursuit of these goals ultimately leads to the promotion of condominiums. Second, the framing of the goals ignores many important social considerations, including the social effects of condominiums on the broader neighbourhood. These findings contribute to the literature on condo-ism, showing how urban planning is central to the latter. Indeed, these findings can make a contribution as various levels of government are putting forward sustainability policies that will greatly influence urban planning but must take into consideration the importance of social sustainability in the planning of future cities.