Simulated Cities, Sedated Living

By Robert Misik at Eurozine (15.12.2006) :

If, as Rem Koolhaas has remarked, "shopping is the last remaining form of public activity", why does sociology look down upon it as preserve of pop theory and window dressing manuals? Shopping malls simulate the buzz of city centres and create an atmosphere appropriate for consuming. Everything is planned in advanced and controlled; appropriation or adaptation of the space by passers-by is both impossible and forbidden. This rebounds on city centres: prettified, scrubbed, and tidied, they increasingly adopt the mall aesthetic. And in a final twist, malls have begun building reconstructions of city streets.

Also see Rachel Bowlby's two books : Just Looking (Methuen) and Carried Away (Columbia).