Housing type can take many forms. Here are a few basic types for reference.

Apartment buildings take many shapes. Some have a courtyard in their midst, or a front yard. Others may take up most of the property's footprint, but are near a larger greenspace.

Stacked flats look like apartments from the outside, but each apartment is only one storey, emphasizing accessibility. The building may feature an elevator.

Courtyard blocks include larger apartment buildings around a central yard, taking up most or all of a city block.

Townhomes are now a common sight. They are tall, similar units in a row or grid. Most of them share walls, but some of them stand alone with little space in between. Some are designed with live/work capacity in mind.

Row houses are similar, but are marked by slight variations among them on the same footprint, often abutting the sidewalk.

Duplexes and triplexes house more than one family in a building with one owner. They usually feature an entrance for each unit.

Cottage courtyards involve several small houses around a central yard or green-lined path.

Co-housing can take many shapes, often with several buildings. It involves shared amenities and practices.

Multi-generational housing is less about the architectural type, but rather about the building's ability to house one large family of multiple generations.

Multi-income housing is similarly less about the building style than it is about offering enough variety of housing types in one development to accommodate families of different income levels.