Blossoms is a novel published by Jin Yucheng in 2013 and is currently regarded as a representative work of Shanghai urban literature in China. The novel is told from three different points of view: before and after the Cultural Revolution and in the 1990s. The primary setting is the activities and living spaces of the three protagonists, who are friends. The novel includes descriptions and illustrations of multi-dwelling housing in Shanghai from the 1930s to the 1970s, including old lilong housing, new lilong housing, apartment, Workers’ Village. These types of multi-dwelling housing symbolized the social status of the protagonists, and the protagonists' move to different residences during the Cultural Revolution signified a change in status. This study analyzes Blossoms from an architectural perspective to examine the types of multi-dwelling housing in modern Shanghai. It aims to understand the formation background of each multi-dwelling kind of housing, related urban planning and policies, and architectural characteristics such as floor plans, structures, and materials to better understand the urban residential culture and life of Shanghai residents at that time.

The aim of this study is to identify the floor plan types of folk houses or traditional vernacular dwellings found in Nagan Folk Village located in Joellanamdo province. Examining the floor plans appeared among 36 vernacular folk houses presumably built in the 19th century in the village by means of the changes in the number of bays of Anche, the mail block of the house, the study was also able to construct a spatial compositional process of floor plan development. The floor plan examination revealed that the basic floor plan type in Nagan folk housing was 'ㅡ' shape, a typical southern dwelling based on the existing classification. This basic type is consisted of three bays or rooms: Jeongji (kitchen), Anbang (large room), and Jageunbang (small room). New spaces or rooms are added to this three room house to expand the house as the residential functions become more complex, such as more living and storage spaces. The expansion appears to have two direction. On the one hand, it has been taken place by inserting Marea, an open wooden floor living space between Anbang and Jageunbang to meet the extended living demand. On the other, Jeongjibang, a second kitchen/storage has been attached to Jeongji outward for extra cooking and storage. This two-way expansion shows the trend of symmetric expansion between cooking, storing space and dwelling space. It can be implied that the arrangement of house rooms has been structurally formulated and shared by the farmer-builders in the 19th century in Nagan village who appeared to be influenced by fixed images for housing.

This study provides a descriptive and analytical account of major aspects of urban development and transformation of housing types of Italian Firenze from the 13th century to the 19th century. It is a typo-morphological depiction of urban spatial structure of the extraordinary city, Firenze, the center of Italian Renaissance. And this study has proceeded on the assumption that the evolving form of the urban structure and housing types cannot be understood without reference to the larger context of political, economic, and social life. Based on these backgrounds, the purpose of this study is threefold: to provide a comprehensive discussion of general characteristics of urban spatial structure of Firenze, and to explain the process of formation of working-class neighborhoods by constructing new city wall in later 13th century, and to discuss transformation of housing types of the working-class neighborhood with understanding the mechanism of existence of housing in the newly formed residential neighborhoods. The development of residential neighborhoods was pursued by 'planned' manner through forming square-shaped blocks, and characterized by the subdivision of larger properties into standardized building lots for the construction of houses. On the bases of documentary evidences, several ecclesiastical institutions are identified as the agents of a distinctive type of development. While the institutions did the major role for developing lands, the construction of houses was done by small scale construction agents with moderate amount of properties. The major housing type of working-class neighborhoods of Firenze has been the 'casa a schiera' characterized by the form of narrow front and long depth. The type was generalized by the newly formed middle and working-class of Firenze which grew their body very rapidly, Even though the type assumed very uniform in its fen there were many variations. And through passing time, the casa a schiera developed to be multi-family housing, and the level of variation became deepen. Eventually, transformation of housing type of Firenze was ended by appearance of the 'casa in linea', which was very similar to modern apartment in its spatial organization.