Issue Statement

The conflict of Shopping Mall’s Function and the way People Utilizing it

By cross compare of the Relationship Mapping and the definition of perceived space, conceived space and lived space of Shopping Mall it is clearly to see the politic relationship is happening and causing the debate of shopping mall being a third space or not.

Even though Shopping Mall is declared as third place and a replacement of public space but physically and consciously do not fulfill its function as a public space when serving the community. Its main purpose of exist is a tool for profit. Every detail of shopping mall architecture is consumerism driven,

Hence we can conclude that consciously the imagination (Conceived Space) of Shopping Mall is not parallel to the imagination (Lived Space of public space.

Why Shopping Mall is not a Public Space ?

Influence of Consumerism counter the characteristic of public space in shopping mall

The main reason is always come around the factor that stakeholders are using the mall as tool to make profit and also the nature of human always attract by the activity of shopping.

Singular Function Building

Discriminate on users, service & product

“The shopping Centre is a machine for shopping: it employs crude, but very effective, behaviorist principles to move patrons effectively through the retail build environment”, (Goss, 1993, p. 33) says. The commercial spaces lost its former public force and dedicated themselves to pure consumerism, becoming a mono-functional aggregation of plain boxes. Every product happen inside only related trading service & product. (Mattson, 2009)

Urban poor are excluded from those spaces, Shopping Mall’s products mostly serve those with disposable income. (Erkip, 2003)

Existence of Guren Effect / Gruen Transfer

It refer to the moment when consumers enter a shopping mall or store and, surrounded by an intentionally confusing layout, lose track of their original intentions, making consumers more susceptible to make impulse buys. It is named after Austrian architect Victor Gruen, who disavowed such manipulative techniques. The Gruen transfer is a psychological phenomenon in which an idealised hyper-reality is realized by deliberate reconstruction, providing a sense of safety and calm through exceptional familiarity.

Pseudo-Public Spaces

Consumer behavior is controlled in shopping centers, in contrast to most public spaces, and the major task is to consume. People are being diverse by categories, goods are selling according to states of people. Some retail tend to have guard and door install within its boundaries. (Staeheli and Mitchell, 2006) Besides Mall owners do not consider these spaces as gathering places or a new kind of downtowns, and do not allow for all the user rights that a really public setting would offer. In Malaysia Shopping Mall, pets are not allow, Access of shopping malls are not 24 hours

Why Shopping Mall is not a Public Space ?

Shopping Mall Is Fading its Role As Third Place and replacement of Public Space Due to Dynamic Environment

The retail real estate industry is undergoing one of the most profound transformations in its history. The rapid advance of technology and the growing influence of the multiple generations, along with other trends have created challenges for shopping center to declare itself as a third space or a freedom public space. The spirit of shopping mall as a third space and replacement of public space is starting to fade along with those obstacles. - Awareness of Consumerism - Pandemic

Online trend and digitalization is changing Shopping Mall’s usage

The concept of space is further complicated as the perception of space is no longer exclusively a matter of brute, geographical spaces. (Dovey, 2010; Johnston, 1999; Wise, 1997; Virilio, 1989) Once physical shopping, now can be easily done by using mobile phone application at anytime anywhere. Besides the development of digital media is not only is striking the visitor foot fall of shopping mall but changing the social communication behavior. Social interaction between people now can be easily occur by using mobile phone. Perceived spaces are thus a blend of actual and virtual spaces and users shift between the external world and the digital media screen when navigating in social space. (Johan Hagberg, 2011)

Social Space > Social Media Physical Shopping > Online Shopping

Online Shopping Trend / Predictive Analytics (Big Data) / HCI / Recommendation Engines / Search Engine / Extended Reality

Shopping Mall is having conflict between its role and its actual function when serving the community

The outline of Shopping Mall which control or create by the owner, designer, urban planner or government is not parallel to the imagination of users