This thesis proposes the creation of a greater sense of community in today's city through housing form. The lost vitality of the traditional mixed-use city is considered retrievable through the planning of the collective realm, accommodating the pedestrian as well as the automobile. The study involves the means by which housing form allows the traditional interdependence of housing, as the private realm, and the public spaces of the city. The scope of the research work includes an overview of today's urbanism within an historical perspective and analyses of housing examples. The latter includes previous American public housing, Houston public housing and elderly housing, and recent noteworthy urban housing. The intention behind the research is for determination of means for linking the fragments of today's city. The design project suggests a method for establishing housing in Houston which promotes a sense of an urban community. The method includes a mixed-use basis; low-income seniors, single-parent households, singles, and other families; and common outdoor spaces and private areas. Overall, the relationship to the street grid substantiates the gridded nature of the city while the forms reference the existing nature of the surrounding development.