Why Shopping malls? 2/2

2/2

Heikintori had features that support the human scale (source, picture taken in 1971)

 

Have you ever found yourself sitting on a toilet of a shopping mall and wondered if you would not really need a soundtrack of music mixed with commercials for your business? Have you ever gone to a library, located in a mall, in addition to books returned with useless impulse purchases? Have you ever come back home from a shopping mall and noticed that you are extremely tired even though you were supposed to relax over a late lunch with a friend?

I know I have, and that is why every time I visit a shopping mall, I cannot help but to think, why do they exist?

This is the second part of a two-parted text in which I collect my thoughts on shopping malls and ways they are more hurtful than useful to us. In this part I examine the topic from the points of view of environmental psychology, cityscape and to some extent consumerism. 

Environmental psychology is a fairly new branch of science but already through its research we have been scientifically able to set frames on what kind of environment supports our well-being, and it is needless to say how big of a role our surroundings have to our state of mind and bodily balance. 

One of the biggest components of our environments is sounds, and noise is something that lifts our stress level easily without us noticing. Noise is something that cannot be blocked by our senses. Shopping malls are a closed space where echo can be present. With non-stop commercials and music, the noise level can rise above comfort levels. Outside of Finland, many malls have so-called quiet hours to accommodate extra sensitive people, but this is something that everyone could benefit from (read more)

Another thing that shopping malls lack is greenery and sunlight. Most shopping malls would be dark if it was not for artificial lighting. Most times they are overly bright to enhance sales. Greenery inside shopping malls is also most often artificial. Consequently, I am not surprised why we are so unsyncronized with nature. To me, shopping malls often seem limbo state like spaces. The only way to figure out what time of the day or year it is, is to decipher it from people’s coats.

When looking at shopping malls from a spatial point of view, they are, in a way, showstoppers. Anywhere a shopping mall exits, it is the dominant element of the cityscape. Their facades feel impregnatable and the word huge takes over the mind. Cities are made of streets, buildings, squares, parks and gardens and to my eye, shopping malls look like a lump of those stuck together in an unnatural way. 

In addition, shopping malls being a concentration of physical space, they are a concrete manifestation of consumerism. They are the main characters in the story of shopping as a leisure activity, which is harmful for us individuals as well as to the effort to fight against the climate crisis. 

In opposition, shopping malls are a solution to problems, especially Finland has when it comes to the weather. Often, in the winter, it is challenging to organize events or such, and because of that, shopping malls offer all year-round services and activities in cities. Also, not having to worry about slippery roads is safer, for example, for the elderly. In addition, having all kinds of shops and services in the same place makes it easier for people to get everything on one trip.

Even though there are benefits to shopping malls, their disadvantages are more numerous and more severe. The benefits of shopping malls could be achieved in other ways. They could be more connected to their surrounding cityscape. If we would aim for that, we could design more of a humanistic as well as a nature-context-aware environment.