Shopping Malls
The Mauling of America
The prototype was introduced in 1947 at Seattle, Washington. The Northgate
mall had two department stores anchoring the ends of an
open-air pedestrian mall, set amid acres of parking. In the 1960s, the
average visit to a mall lasted under twenty minutes, as shoppers went
with an actual object in mind, and once found, would purchase it and
leave. By the 1980s, destination shopping had given way to shopping
as a recreational activity. Now, the average time spent inside a mall has
grown to over three hours. (Further reading: Michael Sorkin, editor,
Variations On A Theme Park: the new American city and the end of public
space, New York, 1992.)
