This is interesting because it not only perverts the pure consumption purpose of the mall's owners but also creates a public space for the teenagers to interact in and establish social ties outside of the supervision of their parents or schools.

(Kohn, 2004, p. 193)."

Source: Staeheli, L.A. & Mitchell, D., 2006. USA's Destiny? Regulating Space and Creating Community in American Shopping Malls. Urban Studies, 43(5-6), pp.977–992.

In the 2000s certain spaces some teenagers would occupy for extended periods of time was the Carindale Bus Stop and underneath Carindale. I didn’t understand this at the time but it was probably because people had persistently moved them on in the shopping centre; I understand if they interpreted this as meaning that they were not welcome actually inside the shopping mall. I only engaged with this world a few times but I do think about it sometimes now when I go back there. 

I couldn’t find any code of conduct for any of the Westfield shopping centres on their websites. This may because the most potent rules for shopping malls are the invisible ‘rules’ as, Dovey (2008, p.146), explains, these "'rules' exist in the habitus of the mall". The clear objective for patrons is for them to consume and to adhere to the layout as it was intended. Any deviance from this expectation is dealt with in a confrontational way by of on-hand and ever watching security.

Dovey, K. (2008). Framing places : mediating power in built form. London ; New York, Routledge.  Chap 9, 'Inverted city: the shopping mall' p 137 -157

Victor Gruen’s idea was to solve the issue of “phoney respectability and genuine boredom of postwar suburbia… by affording opportunities for social life and recreation in a protected pedestrian environment", (Gruen cited in The Conversation, 2015). The objective for Gruen was to recreate the feel of the urbanism he knew in Vienna. Has his model been successful? Yes, the shopping mall provides a safe environment where people can meet and socialise, however, the leisure part is left wanting; often the only thing to do is shop and eat - at least in my memory. I can see through research that there were once various attractions in malls but I've never experienced this with the exception of a singular fashion show.

In response to the falling popularity of the shopping mall in the USA, there has been a trend towards morphing them into "lifestyle centres." If shopping malls were a modern construct, then "lifestyle centres" are a product of post-modernity. As seen in the USA, and in locations where the “new urbanist” model (investment) is viable, previous shopping centres are being transformed into lifestyle centres, (The Conversation, 2017). The difference? Instead of being anchored by department stores they are now anchored by large specialty stores or movie theatres and they are also much smaller. Which The Conversation (2017) remarks, "[p]arading themselves as Main Streets from a bygone era, these new retail centers hope to recreate what was lost in the rush to cover America with large malls from the 1950s through the 1990s. Yet at their core, Gruen’s ideal mall and the New Urbanists’ lifestyle center share the same aspiration: a thriving community center, yes – but one that ultimately turns a tidy profit.

Dovey, K. (2008). Framing places : mediating power in built form. London ; New York, Routledge.  Chap 9, 'Inverted city: the shopping mall' p 137 -157

The Conversation. 2015. Lifestyle centers: reinvented communities or dressed-up shopping malls?. [ONLINE] Available at: https://theconversation.com/lifestyle-centers-reinvented-communities-or-dressed-up-shopping-malls-36752. [Accessed 8 September 2018].

Case Study - Palermo, Italy

Shopping malls in Palermo and across the globe seem to have been built around the deceptive idea that they might redefine the essence of, or perhaps even replace, traditional public spaces, which have increasingly become unbearable for money-lacking administrations. Supported by weak political decisions and by the communicative abilities of unscrupulous businessmen, shopping malls have been described as the new frontier of economic, and even social and cultural growth for Palermo. Still, they can be considered a complete let down from a social point of view, as they did nothing to address preexisting social issues, but also endangered or even damaged the fragile identities of the closest local neighborhoods, as for the case of Brancaccio (Forum Palermo), Borgo Nuovo (La Torre) and ZEN (Conca d’Oro).

Furthermore, shopping malls cannot be considered truly public spaces, as they do not support an overall social growth, but preserve private economic interests instead. Their role as pseudo-public spaces is also particularly questionable, considering how shopping malls are being increasingly abandoned throughout the U.S.A., where new forms of commercial districts are in development, and are instead pointed out as the most innovative kind of economic development a city like Palermo could afford to achieve.