The
Barton Creek Square Mall is one of the largest shopping malls in the Austin
area. In North America, a mall refers to a large shopping area composed of one
or more buildings forming a complex of shops, usually “anchored” by one or more
department stores with interconnecting walkways enabling visitors to easily
walk from one unit to another, and surrounded by a parking lot. In a simple
sentence; a shopping mall is an indoor version of the traditional market place.
Shopping malls are public good as they serve as a single location for shopping
location that not only save money and time to its visitors, but also help fuel
the local economy and provide jobs for its citizens. Shopping mall institutions
promote themselves as new town squares or public spaces in which people should
come and be friends, and get familiar with the community, and entertain while
having the shopping experience. However they are promoted, shopping malls are
privately owned establishments, which raise a big a controversy about public
versus private space; the Barton Creek Mall is not an exception to this rule.
Margaret
Kohn in Brave New Neighborhoods says:
“today the only place that many Americans encounter strangers is in the
shopping mall; the most important public place (page 254).” However she
continues saying that this public place is now private and probably not by
accident… so it is difficult to determine what exactly constitutes a public
space. We define a public space as a place where all peoples are welcome
independently of their race, social class, or gender… an area in which members
of the public who are strangers to each other might congregate for the same
purpose, and where ideas can be freely shared (almost like in the Greek polis).
In this sense, the Barton creek Mall is a public space. Everyone is welcome; I
personally saw people of all ethnicities at the site. Nonetheless, we also
consider a public space an area for recreation and entertainment subject to
usage by the public. In this manner, I guess that the mall fails as a public
entity. At the Barton Creek just like any other mall, I believe that
individuals perform learned behaviors based upon personal private interests which
are consider appropriate civil behavior within the boundaries of their
businesses. So, although the mall resembles the traditional market place in
many ways, the shopping mall is more a quasi-public space.
The
Barton Creek mall, is owned and operated by the Simon Group Property Inc.,
which is ranked as the number one real-estate investment trust and of course
their main goal is to make a profit. So the mall was specifically designed with
the purpose of movement and consumption, which in my understanding
automatically limits the uses of the site. Likewise, activities in the mall are
within a certain space limited to those that promote shopping or another
particular agenda that sweeten the interest of the corporate owners. Even the
aesthetics of the mall is somehow “limiting” or else exclusive, as the mall was
designed for its higher income trade area; something that can clearly be seen from
the type of cars in the parking lot, to the watches, and handbags of the
visitors. Although you see all kinds of people in the site, visitors are mainly
middle-to upper middle class white persons; in this way the mall matches the
demographics of its surrounding areas and although indirectly, excludes the
less privileged which cannot afford to shop there. I guess this should not be
the case of public spaces. So I find it hard to answer the question of whether
the place is democratic. According to the Merriam Webster definition the world
democracy means “rule by the people,” then with the Barton Creek mall being
privately owned, I assume that the owners have the power to decide what can and
what cannot take place… Although there is not any constitutional prohibition
against legislation protecting political speech in places where citizens were normally
allowed to be (including public areas of private malls), citizens need to
remember that civil rights and commercial interest do not always mix, and when
this is the case, certain liberties are surely lost. Like Margaret Kohn states
“ the privatization of public spaces, leaves public sidewalks and streets practically
as the only remaining available sites for unscripted political activities (page
254)”… The idea of a public space includes the gathering of people with the
absence of coercive powers as well, as quasi-public destination being designed
around the concept of security. At the Barton Creek shopping Mall for instance,
there are security guards who are well uniformed and patrol the mall corridors
and the outside area by car. There are also security cameras throughout the
mall, and despite not seeing any particular sign dictating what behaviors are
appropriate inside the mall, the fact that the mall is patrolled on a regular
basis detracts a little from the concept of the public space that shopping
malls try to convey.
The
Barton Creek Mall, like other malls, is really a façade of a public space.
Economic circumstances define the accessibility of the site and which level of
income one must have in order to participate. You cannot simply approach people
and speak to them; something that I know from my personal experience on the
first part of the assignment. People would not even listen to what I had to say
just because I was not carrying any shopping bags… I felt a lot like an intruder
that did not belong there, or do anything in the mall space because you will be
asked to leave. Nevertheless, the mall is becoming not only a multi-use
facility, but a completely self contained homotopia of suburban life… the
shopping mall is so attractive because it combines the pleasures of public life
with the safety and familiarity of the private realm. And this is exactly what
poses a number of conceptual challenges upon which public policy makers must
act: the problem of privatization of public spaces.
“The
Mauling of Public Space” From Kohn, Margaret. Brave New Neighborhoods: The
Privatization of Public Space. Routledge, 2004.
