Victor Gruen is considered the father of shopping malls, but he envisioned something more than shopping centers surrounded by asphalt parking lots.
Timestamps:
0:00 The Car Centric Shopping Experience
3:30 Purpose of a Mall
6:00 The Gruen Effect
7:09 Victor Gruen & Suburbia
11:22 Southdale Center
12:42 A Tragic Downgrading in Quality
14:29 The Golden Age of the Mall
15:20 Malls Are Dying
17:02 Chance for New Life
20:17 Leave Downtown, Downtown
Sources:
Mall Maker Victor Gruen, Architect of an American Dream
https://archive.org/details/mallmakervictorg00hard
SouthTowne Crossing Commercial:
http://www.shopsouthtownecrossing.com/
Vehicle Trips By Purpose
https://nhts.ornl.gov/vehicle-trips
Mall Walkers of Meadowood Mall
https://mynews4.com/news/local/meet-the-mall-walkers-of-meadowood-mall
How Ikea mastered the Gruen effect
https://www.vox.com/2018/10/17/17989684/ikea-gruen-effect-unplanned-purchases
Customer Impulse Purchasing Behavior
https://www.jstor.org/stable/3150160
Impact of ambient odors on mall shoppers’ emotions, cognition, and spending
https://www.academia.edu/15579860/Impact_of_ambient_odors_on_mall_shoppers_emotions_cognition_and_spending?auto=download
Why the inventor of the shopping mall denounced his dream
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2022/jun/24/bastard-developments-inventor-world-first-shopping-mall-denounced
Southdale Center: America’s first shopping mall
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/may/06/southdale-center-america-first-shopping-mall-history-cities-50-buildings
https://www.gruenassociates.com/project/southdale-center/
Father of shopping centers disowns his progeny
https://www.newspapers.com/image/222986370/
America’s Suburban Experiment
https://www.strongtowns.org/curbside-chat-1/2015/12/14/americas-suburban-experiment
This Man Is the Father of Modern American Suburbia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksmH5OcLQFw
Victor Gruen Wanted to Make Our Suburbs More Urban. Instead, He Invented the Mall
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-07-18/victor-gruen-wanted-to-make-our-suburbs-more-urban-instead-he-invented-the-mall
Southdale, the World’s First Shopping Mall, Celebrates 60 Years
https://www.minnesotamonthly.com/arts-entertainment/southdale-the-worlds-first-shopping-mall-celebrates-60-years/
Weather-Conditioned Shopping Center Opens
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1956/10/09/87302924.html?pageNumber=62
Nov. 28, 1956: Frank Lloyd Wright at Southdale
https://www.startribune.com/nov-28-1956-frank-lloyd-wright-at-southdale/126070188/
The rise and fall of the American mall
https://www.businessinsider.com/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-american-mall-2020-7?op=1
Malls are dying. The thriving ones are spending millions to reinvent themselves.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/11/22/malls-are-dying-only-these-ones-have-figured-out-secrets-success-internet-age/
25% of U.S. malls are expected to shut within 5 years.
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/27/25percent-of-us-malls-are-set-to-shut-within-5-years-what-comes-next.html
Reno Entertainment District
https://redreno.com/
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