North America’s New Town Centers: Time to Take Some Angst Out and Put More Soul In

Abstract

As consumers became tired of America’s ubiquitous shopping malls, an alternative retailing format appeared—an outdoor streetscape with trees, shops in buildings with convenient front-door parking, restaurants, and sometimes hotels. These new developments, which have attracted much attention and popular support, go by several names, but I’ll use the common term of “life-style center.” Meant to provide an ambience and flair that most malls never attempted, these centers have begun to display a sameness similar to that of the malls. These centers all seem to look like a set from the same mock Italian hill town, no matter whether the center is built in Maine or Mississippi.