Note: I never imagined that I would end up doing a 4-part series on shopping centers. This started as a simple journal about my frustration with the inhumanity of malls, and it developed into a thesis of sorts.

I spent most of my childhood in the 1980s, and nobody thought the idea of a suburb was a bad thing. Actually, everyone was a big fan. Almost every movie or TV show in that decade was obsessed with the the suburb and it’s grand landmark: The Mall. If you believed what you saw on TV (which I did), the mall was the center of every young person’s glorious social life. That’s where you hung out with friends, bought clothes, and met pretty girls. I knew the mall is where I was meant to be.

The only time I encountered this magical place was once a year when my family traveled two hours south to Gwinnett Place Mall, about 30 minutes north of Atlanta. My young teenage mind got dizzy off the sites and sounds of the place. I frolicked in every single acre of paradise.

By the time I was in college, I was too cool for the mall (just like every other kid raised in the 1980s who came of age in the 1990s.) But on the rare occasion that I absolutely had to go to the mall, I was got frustrated by the traffic, the game of finding a parking space, and the mindless consumerism. I preferred the quaint corners of the leafy streets of the city. Areas like Little Five Points, Virginia Highland, and Midtown. I couldn’t understand why anyone would shop anywhere else.

When I traveled, I was drawn to cities that had vibrant street life: New York, Chicago, Boston, and to a degree, New Orleans. I loved walking past the sidewalk cafes and exploring the stores. I discovered that one thing all these cities had in common was they were built before the invention of the automobile. With few exceptions, every other city in America boomed after people decided they’d rather drive somewhere than walk. This is why we have highways, exit ramps, large parking lots–all the familiar topography of a suburb.

I’m old enough to know that suburbs can be very good places to live, often with good schools, low crime rates, and more space for a grassy backyard. I’ve also witnessed the wide variety of “neighborhood shopping centers” that can make or break a neighborhood. I’ve experienced first hand that a shopping center can enhance the livability of the neighborhood, or exploit the residents for financial gain.

I should note that I’ve had no formal education on architecture, city planning, or commercial Real Estate development. Everything that I’ve written here is from the perspective of someone who loves city life, and wants people to be happy as they live out there days.

I’m so convicted about this that I did some work on Google maps people could get a bird’s eye view. Although the images might at first seem boring, they tell the unique story of the entire experience of shopping.

Here are 10 examples of how you make a large shopping center outside of downtown.

1. Gwinnett Place Mall, Duluth, GA
Cool Factor: 0 out of 5
Online: http://www.simon.com/mall/default.aspx?ID=205Here you see a gazillion square feet of climate-controlled hell wrapped in acres of hot pavement. You can see a few rows of trees to break up the barron parking lot, but it’s hardly enough. Between your car and the mall’s doors is a brutal game of Man v. Machine where you try not to run over. Seriously, where are the sidewalks for the humans and the baby carriages?

Gwinnett Place Mall, Duluth, GA

The thought of driving the loop around the mall makes me want to vomit.

Although you can’t see it from the photo, the entryways into the mall are simple doors that allow you to pass from the parking lot into the store. There’s no “front porch” to make the transition more friendly. If it’s like any other mall built in the same era, there are no front display windows to draw you inside. From the outside, the mall is ugly and completely at odds with the natural surroundings. Essentially, it’s cubic structure of concrete built on top of acres of pavement. What could be more lifeless?

2. The Block at Orange, Orange Country, California
Cool Factor: 2 out of 5
Online: http://www.simon.com/mall/default.aspx?ID=1236I first visited The Block in 2000 or 2001 when I spoke at an event at nearby high school. Then earlier this year I visited it a second time for Adam and Carolyna’s wedding rehearsal dinner at Dave and Busters.

The Block at Orange

The Block at Orange has a taste of the visual intensity of Times Square in NY.

The Block at Orange, Orange, CA

You can see that it’s still a mall, except it’s divided up so you can walk outside.

It’s fun to walk in between the stores while enjoying the nice weather. There is plenty of tree shade too so I imagine it never gets too hot. The bad thing is that it still has a mall’s parking lot. The parking lot is an uninterrupted band of concrete that circles the shops. Once you get out of your car, there’s no excitement until you escape the parking lot. But still, everyone I know feels cooler at The Block than a typical mall.

But we’re not quite there.

 

3. Clay Terrace in Carmel, IN
Cool Points: 4 out of 5
Online: http://www.simon.com/mall/default.aspx?ID=860Clay Terrace wasn’t finished when I drove through one early morning a few years ago, but it seemed like it was destined to become the charming downtown marketplace for the upscale town of Carmel.

<Clay Terrace in Carmel, Indiana

I found this picture online. I’m loving the classic architectural details of the subdued storefronts.

The central boulevard keeps drivers going slow with the two loop-around circles. (I don’t know what they are called.) And how much more fun is that? It’s what makes Columbus Circle in Manhattan such a whimsical place. It’s a Merry Go Round for adults.

There is plenty of street-side parking off of Clay Terrace Blvd, much like what you see off of downtown streets. People love to park in these spots. It’s a little silly to write a sentence like that, but there’s something about street-side parking that is more exciting than parking in the car pasture of a typical shopping mall.

Clay Terrace in Carmel, IN

A new downtown for Carmel, Indiana.

There are plenty of of spaces in the parking lots on the outskirts, but they are divided up to not seem so overwhelming. The stripes of white that extend out from Clay Terrace Boulevard are probably sidewalks, the ultimate courtesy to pedestrians. This shopping center must be a huge asset to the community. There is not a single Realtor in Carmel that doesn’t first drive down Clay Terrace Boulevard before showing an out-of-town buyer their next new house.