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The modern metropolis offers a wide variety ofÌýexperiences to enrich our everyday life. Beyond meeting our daily needs, such aÌýrich and diverse city acts as a complex system of urban phenomena that alsoÌýsatisfies our need for creating meaningful experience. RapidÌýurbanization andÌýthe confusion of meaning it creates in our existence, as well as the ensuingÌýproliferation of corporate urban spectacles replacing deeper civic meanings ofÌýrooted urban traditions, depreciate the quality of lived experience and theÌýmodest entertainment in ourÌýcontemporary life in the city.

The thesis is about capturing the singular momentsÌýof urban leisure experience in Toronto’s Grange neighbourhood from the binaryÌýperspectives of both the local (as a resident) and the stranger (as a visitor).ÌýThe research undertakes the dérive, a Situationist strategy, forÌýexamining theÌýdefinition of local authenticity and the subjective perception of urban spaces.ÌýBy juxtaposing the perceptions of the local and the stranger, as noted above,Ìýthe thesis attempts to obscure the border between normative urban reality and imaginativeÌýfantasy. It suggestsÌýentry into the subliminal layer of absurdity alreadyÌýintrinsic within the existing urban context, that is, a layer suitable forÌýprocuring surreal experience and insight in our everyday leisure.

The Grange Hotel is a symbolic alibi in this thesisÌýfor serving as the liminal context between the local and the stranger. CommonÌýplaces dispersed across the Grange neighbourhood are détourned from theirÌýoriginal urban expectations, being redefined as an indeterminate field ofÌýaccidents and radical episodes. By inducing the notion of meta-architectureÌýsimilar to that found in the texts of surrealists, the significant moments ofÌýurban experience can be retranslated into new psychological plots for theÌýhotel’s narrative. The thesis proposes to provoke aÌýdifferent mode of how weÌýperceive and experience the typical urban spaces in the Grange neighbourhood.
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