Nerve Endings Firing Away

Malls have succeeded in gathering a wide variety of people in spite of the blatant commercial lure. Of course, not everyone in a mall is going to walk out with a significant purchase. If you remember the earlier days of Bombay’s first mall, Crossroads; the majority of visitors came to gaze at the new public space and gawk at the brand names, even the automobile elevator had a certain charm. Heck, some of them even finally bought something. Hanging out at a mall is actually as American as it can get but slowly things are changing. Malls don’t hold the same charm as they did few years back as people explore better options for people watching and more importantly, for the social experience.

I proposed a mixed-used redevelopment proposal for my final year design dissertation during my architecture days. Although a new concept that needed serious convincing, people couldn’t criticize its usability because it fulfilled an intrinsic human need of “a place to go out to”. Last I heard, an international airport is being planned just a few miles off the original site but the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) seems to have at least recognized the need to build “social places”.

Green open spaces, although sacrosanct to a city’s existence seem to have a difficult time in justifying its usability often due to lack of specific use. Mixed use development goes overboard and tries to fulfill everyone’s needs. Apart from passive social and cultural centers, nothing is more self-sustaining than a mall. But then again, who would want to spend their time in a maze of branded products that only seem to diminish your sense of existence and increase your appetite for unnecessary goods. And lack of land for the spreads that King of Prussia Mall in Pennsylvania and the Mall of America in Minnesota are, malls are not even a decent economic proposition. Presence of people in a shopping area lures more people who might even buy something is a marketing theory that lets Barnes and Nobles and Starbucks actually encourage people who don’t buy their products to linger around. Andrew Blum writes about new malls called lifecenters that enhance the social experience of a mall:

“Parking my rented Chevy in front of a big-box emporium called Barbeques Galore, I walked through the arched portals that decorate the marketplace entrance. Inside, there were restaurants and stores lining a winding and narrow outdoor pedestrian street that opened up onto a series of little plazas. Padded wicker chairs were strewn about in a studied, casual way, and a huge fieldstone fireplace had benches built into it for those cool desert nights. This was a delightful place for a Frappuccino.” [Desert Ridge Marketplace]

Now that would be a nice place to hang out even if you didn’t want to buy anything. Of course, you might be tempted to few times. He drives down the road to the Kierland Commons:

“The sidewalks were shaded from the sun by flowered trellises, and the streets narrowed at the corners to give pedestrians an implied right of way. An urban plaza with a good café and a band shell provided a central gathering place. The promotional material for Kierland Commons boasts of a “unique urban village,” and a “pleasing, vibrant place where community takes shape and public life happens.” Indeed, as I stand around watching, a jazz singer draws an audience, stooping to serenade a passing bichon frisé. The crowd coos. And, wait, the Phoenix Suns girls are here!”

These lifecenters are inspired by mixed-use development that tempts a wide spectrum of people to come out and frequent the public spaces, which in turn brings out more people. The festive atmosphere that these malls create can lend the sense of informality that the present malls lack, adding a little more personal touch to the social experience. You needn’t be intimidated by the glitz and glamour and instead be gradually lured into soaking in the festive atmosphere. But as the author rightly observes, these lifecenters might cross the threshold of being elitist. The ordinary middle class people might be intimidated with the environment if it is made too swank. The texture and feel of the place has to be simple and just right, enough not to force people to be their unnatural “prim-n-propah” selves. Public spaces are getting increasingly sparse and surprisingly, private entities are creating public spaces successfully.