This is a map of the chronology of housing development in Montreal. The pattern was a little surprising to me but I guess it makes sense. Montreal is an old city and up until 2002, the city on the Island was actually 28 independent municipalities then 1 and now after 2006, 15. As such the city has a historic and multi-nodal form.
Also, the historic and continued role of government policy in housing has made questions related to housing form, tenure and investment different in Quebec from other Canadian provinces.
You can see nodes of redevelopment of housing stock. It's a pretty neat map.
I would really like to read a chronological history of the development of Montreal in terms of geography and form.
One of my favourite books on the historical development of a city is American Urban Form: A Representative History . It's a short and fun read. I would really love finding something similar for a few Canadian cities.