Community Sustainability:
A new role for the shopping centre
by Paulo Perloiro
Until very recently, the shopping centre was the outcast of architecture. For the past two decades at promontorio we have been trying to raise its calibre as an architectural type to that of other public and civic buildings. In order to achieve that higher status, we always felt that shopping centre needed to be more than “a well-detailed box”, to quote Frank Lloyd Wright’s famous adage apropos the unresponsiveness of modern architecture to the inflections of life.
It is hard to imagine a more vilified building type than the shopping centre. Hitherto, and not entirely without reason, it has been denounced for promoting the decline of main street and downtowns in general. But regardless of the passionate debate it sparkles, the shopping centre has become a relentless and inevitable reality of the quotidian, not only in the western world, but also in developing countries. For many of these places, the shopping centre is the community’s de facto downtown —the main civic assembly spot— and as a result, what happens to the shopping centre may ultimately define what happens to the community.
Today’s success of a shopping centre seems to be much more dependent on the spirit of community it instils and the quality and character of its public realm, than in the building’s commercial infrastructure per se. Urban Land Institute (uli) reports have noted that the potential for creating and nurturing a sense of community in a shopping centre may well be its newest and most powerful anchor. As the shopping centre becomes more of a community centre, it takes on the role of a “third-way urbanism”—a place in the public sphere where people can comfortably interact and spend time with others, in an environment that is neither work, nor home. In contrast with the age-old urbanism of European cities, most suburban communities have few, if any, of such third places —which means that the shopping centre, as the most public of all suburban places, is filling the gap. It may sound strange to advocate the shopping centre as the new champion of place-making, and yet, creating a sense of place and a feeling of community is a multidimensional task that the shopping centre —in spite of all its inherent contradictions— seems best equipped to do.
So how can we foster the emergence of this sense of community? First and foremost, it involves a true understanding of human behaviour, of needs and expectations. We need to remember that, while people come to the shopping centre to buy, they also come to gather in a place that offers a deeper meaning and a higher-quality experience. Place-making, authenticity and a sense of urbanity must come together in a mall that wants to successfully create a holistic experience for its customers. But there’s more to it. At the heart of a shopping centre is always the mix. If you look carefully, the most successful centres provide a mix of goods and services that serve both daily needs and specialty/ fashion needs; places to meet, stroll and wander or simply sit back and watch the passer-byes; services that enhance customers’ lifestyles; one-stop-shopping and multitask servicing.
Last but not least, we are witnessing highly successful cases of hybridization of retail with mixed-use cultural/ recreational environments, wherein the shopping centre is physically and spatially merged with key civic programmes of the community —such as libraries, cultural centres, concert halls, sports arenas, or even university extensions. Other potential projects include new town centres or administrative branches of townships and government, office parks, specific housing types designed to serve new demographics, hotels, all involved by mostly pedestrian-based civic precincts.
If we are to create a sense of community and cherish it, we need to respond to local diversity. We need to create an identity using all the familiar place-making tools that serve to create a destination, and give it a sense of purpose for people to keep coming back. Whenever possible, make the most of uncovered spaces; an exciting and active grade level is crucial for success, and so is intensive landscaping, entertaining features, esplanades, water, lighting, sound elements and other stimuli. Whether the mall is indoors or out, it should heighten sensory experiences, and should be designed to accommodate all kinds of people —shy and introvert, as well as gregarious and outgoing.
Architecture should be inspirational, to support retailers who want to convey strong individual personalities and powerful public images. People connect to a place, and make it theirs, by being able to see the sky, experience the weather, enjoy natural light, listen to music or rushing water, relate to both urban and natural surroundings, smell the food and the flowers, and feel the merchandise. Seamlessly connecting the site’s gateways —parking and surrounding streets— to all of the stores, places, and activities on the site, completes the sensorial experience. A feeling of community can be achieved by providing public spaces where people can gather without restrain. That may well be the case with Dolce Vita Tejo, our most recent regional mall design for Lisbon’s suburbs, that witnessed the people’s appropriation of the world’s largest ETFE covered open plaza as a truly civic space able to accommodate book fairs, live tv shows, rock concerts, school musicals, and all the typical public events of a community, that the nearby townships, for different reasons, are incapable of providing or unable to attract.
In the western world, the market for shopping centres has reached maturity, and in most countries, market saturation. Large enough sites for shopping centre construction and public licenses are increasingly difficult to secure; and, except in specific high-growth exurban areas, new markets are limited. Most shopping centres are now decades old. Built on what were then the metropolitan limits, aging malls are now deeply immersed in their urban contexts. As traffic congestion reaches critical proportions in many locations, the vaunted convenience of mall shopping is disappearing. Most shopping centres can only be reached by car. While it is probably true that most customers will always drive to the mall, their busy lives are reducing the time they are willing to spend shopping. In many metropolitan areas, this puts them at a disadvantage in relation to locations that are walkable or connected to public transportation, and that offer more multidimensional urban environments.
Meanwhile, competition has become ferocious, as retail overbuilding and the rise of new formats and delivery channels erode sales among traditional mid-market retailers. The latter find themselves stuck between the value-oriented business of low-end outlet, big-box retail, and Internet shopping, on the one hand, and the experiential high-end business value offered by entertainment, boutique, specialty, and more than ever “lifestyle” retailers. The inability to provide the experience, and the shopping environment that appeals to customers’ aspirations and lifestyle, has ruined countless shopping centres in recent years.
Customers are now seeking authenticity and a deeper sense of connection to their community, culture, climate and daily lives. This need for a community-oriented design increasingly felt by shoppers, is echoed in the emerging preference for outdoor, street front shopping experiences —either in new centres or in older shopping districts— that are better integrated with other pedestrian-oriented daily activities. Unfortunately, few of today’s malls provide such environments. As a response to these community changes, of necessity, action must shift from the construction of new malls to the rehabilitation, re-tenanting, repositioning, and intensification of uses in existing sites. Daring and innovative new environments can be shaped from the bones of older shopping centres. New retail formats, design concepts, public environments, anchors, amenities, parking configurations, tenant-mixes, use-mixes and customer experiences can be tailored to fit the needs of the community, which include accommodating public uses and connections to the surrounding neighbourhoods — previously inexistent, in many cases.
Consider what’s next. Is there a next “big thing” that will change the way you do business? The way I see it: Can you actually reformat the concept of shopping centre in order to bring it closer to people? Can you make it a more meaningful place to the community and to our everyday lives? Then look no further; you are already ahead of the game.
Paulo Perloiro (M.Arch utl, 1988) is the ceo & Founding Partner of promontorio retail design. An authority in the field, he has served as jury member, guest lecturer and speaker at symposiums and conferences in leading universities and institutes worldwide.