Good: Freshly painted trash cans and newspaper vending machines.
New gym with large plate glass window--draws traffic, and
window advertises "young, hip, attractive".
Remodeled pawnshop that fits in with other businesses'
style
Mini-mall offers "incubator" space.
The author states that "a reaction is setting in against the monotony
and homogenity of the shopping mall". He refers to "mall fatigue",
shopping in identical malls with the same stores everywhere in the
country., but to compete, downtowns need to adopt more of a
commercial sensibility that most urban planners and designers don't
possess.
Example: Shade trees and planter boxes? Blocks shoppers' views of
windows and signs. Benches and tables? Attracts teenagers an
loiterers, driving away shoppers. Most amenities are expensive and
distract shopper's attention from the merchandise. Gibbs thinks
urban spaces should be simple, clean, and brightly lighted, safe:
their major function is to serve as commercial space.
Most shoppers arrive by auto, so parking lots should take precedence
over parks. Traffic should be routed through downtown, and slowed
"to the speed of syrup". The goal should be to "pump more cars into
the downtown".
Qoute:
"The same people who tell Gibbs in focus groups that they are tired
of malls complain that many small towns are, well, too small. Why
drive a half an hour to browse through only a handfull of stores?
Gibb's rule of thumb is that a town needs at least 200,000 square
feet of retail space, about the same amount as in a small mall, to
become what retailers call a destination--a place that people are
willing to travel to.
And once they get to their destination, people don't really want to
shop in old-fashioned small-town stores. Americans, in their
time-honored way, want a variety of often contradictory things. They
may like quaint, one-of-a-kind stores that seem to sell unique
merchandise, but they also want the comfort and security of national
brand names on the goods they buy, and they don't want to pay a lot
for them."
Lagerfeld closes with the question of how such a downtown would
differ from a mall without a roof--would it be a community? Gibb
claims that he can't necessairly create community, but that it's not possible
without a vital commercial life. "The Greeks cherished their agora,
but it was always first and formost, a place of business."
Provocative article.
Ron Force rforce@belle.lib.uidaho.edu
Dean of Library Services (208)885-6534
University Of Idaho fax: (208) 885-6817
Moscow, ID 83844-2371
"Every man must die sooner or later, but good books must be conserved"
Don Vincente