In other countries, malls are still alive and well. In Philippines, that is where people literally chill in a hot tropical climate because of 24/7 air conditioning!
Malls are also seen as a sign of progress and modernity for many developing countries, so there is some cultural expectations to building and maintaining malls.
In US, we way overbuilt malls. There’s just too many. While I’m not a fan (shopping is not a destination, and I want to get it done as quickly as possible), I’m not entirely convinced they’re dying here either. Some people do like shopping and some people like the community experience. 3/4 of malls need to die, but we’ll see if it settles on a more sustainable number, or if online shopping ate their face
In the US we’re having a bit of a crisis of “third places”. Where do people hang out as a community? Where do you go? So many newly built suburbs don’t have any approximation of town center or community places. Malls served that need for a few decades, but many are going away. Now we’re trying to replace malls with “shopping districts”, basically rebuilding town centers that too many suburbs never had…. Plus they seem to be just a mall with less roof
A working exemplar of the original vision is still functioning beautifully: "The Grove Arcade" in Asheville, NC.
This is now my favorite housing idea ever.
God, imagine living in a retirement community that has a Hot Topic.
Oh damn...
Hopefully Tiffany will tour them
I dunno, man, she wouldn't have much of a crowd to perform to since malls these days are pretty much dead. I'm at a local mall right now (getting a kiosk phone case), but there doesn't seem to be anyone around.
I've thought about this a lot, on account of infinite people having an insane amount of trouble just keeping consistent shelter over their heads. My gal had suggested this as a means for the homeless. I know that right now malls are being lent out to many individual small organizations (namely churches as far as I know it). But I am not sure this is sustainable as a whole. Due to maintenance costs, hazardous situations like mold and lack of privacy.
I also think about how people keep saying cost of living is why people aren't having kids. But I have lived in multiple places that were once a much larger living space that had been jankily peacemealed into several much smaller apartments. I am a human that enjoys having space of my own, even if it's micro in nature. I can't imagine I am alone in that. And I don't believe people will want to further invest in divvying up spaces in malls. At least, unless they're getting kickbacks. And they'll probably do it in the worst of ways. Leading to spaces that will be barely sound and fast to degrade but slow to fix. I mean shelter is super duper important. But I swear to god your surroundings can affect your mental state. And when you're wedged together in a decaying mold filled building with a bunch of aging individuals facing a slew of different health-issues it'll probably deteriorate your wellness faster than if we tore the places down and utilized some sort of cheap eco-friendly building material/robo-builder to assist making healthier homes.
Also mind you, I don't think we're gunna have beautiful low-income or middle-income homes if the greige, vinyl, orange-peel, chrome take-over points towards anything.
My current job is in an office/call center that used to be a Famous Barr at a mall. It's funny, I worked in that mall as a teen/early 20's. Now I'm back working at the fucking mall XD (tho now I'm provisioning telephone service and processing telecom orders, not sweeping up in a movie theater or trying to upsell people at a shop)
A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. A showerthought should offer a unique perspective on an ordinary part of life.