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WEST EDMONTON MALL AS A CENTRE FOR SOCIAL INTERACTION
Author(s) -
Hopkins Jeffrey S.P.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
canadian geographer / le géographe canadien
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.35
H-Index - 46
eISSN - 1541-0064
pISSN - 0008-3658
DOI - 10.1111/j.1541-0064.1991.tb01101.x
Subject(s) - annexation , visitor pattern , shopping mall , politics , business , advertising , political science , law , computer science , programming language
The emergence of a mega‐mall ‐ with its increased scale, size, and ensuing annexation of much of a city's retail and social life ‐ intensifies the need for research about the social functions of shopping centres. Profiles of mall social life are necessary to understand the larger geographical, legal, political, and social issues accompanying the proliferation of such privately owned, publicly used indoor urban environments. Social interaction at West Edmonton Mall (wem) is characterized through an examination of its physical design and operation and an assessment of attitudes and uses of its local patrons, including adolescent ‘ma/ies. wem is not as successful in orchestrating visitor satisfaction as one might expect, due partly to the amplification of tension between mall owners I designers and the desire of local residents to engage the mega‐mall on their own terms.