The vanishing shopping mall
(via AZspot)
This article’s full of amazing quotes.
But there is no single “big fix” that will pump life back into downtowns full of boarded-up stores, says development expert Teresa Lynch. That means some communities will soon be without a mall or a thriving shopping district, leaving them with no central gathering place. “One of the biggest consequences of mall closings is the loss of a sense of community,” says David Birnbrey of The Shopping Center Group, “a place where people gather and socialize.” And exercise. Retirees Dick and Anne Saplata work out by walking around the largely empty halls of the Metcalf South Mall in Leawood, Kan. It’s likely to close soon, and there’s talk that a developer will raze the place. If the mall goes under, Dick Saplata asks, “where are we going to walk?”
There is so much wrong with this that I don’t even know where to start.
We’ve created far too many places like this. It’s going to be painful for the communities as they collapse (which has been happening for years — this isn’t new), but this gives us the opportunity to replace these monstrosities with much better alternatives.
Is it just me, or do places with a true sense of community have that WITHOUT malls? I’m thinking of neighborhoods like St Anthony Park in St. Paul, MN; Linden Hills in Minneapolis, MN.
I think one of the keys to community centered shopping districts is that they’re the kind of places you use daily at all ages by all genders. Malls don’t do that so end up with a combination of mall rats and cougars.
