The Revitalist

Now that we have just finished the major shopping season of the year (perhaps some of you are still plumbing the depths of the after-Christmas sales), it seems like a good time to reflect on the good, old American shopping mall. The Economist has a rather chatty history of the mall's birth, death and rebirth as a "lifestyle center" (via Planetizen). The mall helped to shape the culture of the suburbs, which has defined more than one generation of Americans. But as traditional indoor malls decline and open air lifestyle centers replace them (as happened right around the corner from me at North Hills in Raleigh), don't you wonder how the suburban experience overall will change? Will it change at all? The lifestyle center crowd would, I think, like to argue that their creations offer a more "authentic" urban experience, but that's a whole other conversation. Think back over your holiday shopping experience, was it very different shopping in at an outdoor mall versus an indoor one?