The Mall as Agora in Terramagne-America
Dec. 29th, 2017 10:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithThe history of malls really goes back to things like town squares and market days: a semi-enclosed area bounded by businesses and/or social buildings where people regularly gather. The Greeks called theirs the agora. In the modern era, someone thought to put a roof over the thing, making it pleasant regardless of the weather outdoors. For decades, this was a pretty fantastic idea.
In local-America, alas, the era of malls seems to be waning due to a variety of factors ranging from rich people sucking all the money out of the economy to mall owners making policies that drive away stores and customers. Manipulative leasing rules have gone from driving out unique and interesting proprietary shops, so that malls became almost entirely chain store enclaves, to driving away even the chain stores. :( In more and more malls, discriminatory rules now ban senior citizens and/or all minors unless accompanied by a parent. >_< Well obviously, those are the people with the most time and interest to spend in malls, so if you drive them out, you don't have much customer base left. And if you make the mall youth-hostile, people will not grow up hanging out in the mall, which means they won't think of it as a place to spend their money when they are adults with jobs. *kawhoosh* That's the sound of millions of dollars flushed down the economic stream to Amazon or iTunes.
So let's take a look at malls in Terramagne-America, which have expanded on the idea of the agora ...
* Malls are a place where people come to browse and buy stuff. So in addition to the permanent stores, they often have food carts, food trucks, kiosks, and other moveable features. Then there are shows. Car shows, collectible card shows, antique shows, trade shows, flea markets, etc. A thriving T-American mall has some kind of special activity happening 2-3 weekends out of the month, and occasionally weekday events targeted to audiences who don't shop much on weekends. A senior event might run on weekday mornings when the walking club is bustling.
* A free-flowing audience of potential customers makes it much easier to start a retail business than doing it on the street where you have to pull them in. Remember Arcadia East? They have those relatively small shops, and a lot of turnover -- not because many shops fail out like here, but because the successful ones outgrow the slot and move to a bigger space elsewhere. They are literally generating small businesses and turning them into bigger businesses. \o/ Most malls have stores of varying sizes, from big department stores in the anchor positions to medium and small stores in the slots. T-America usually has a medium-to-large slot that can be subdivided into sections for retailers who can't afford a whole separate storefront yet. The idea is that the unsuccessful ones will fail without losing too much investment, and the successful ones will grow into a storefront of their own.
* Malls provide a big social center with a lid on it. So in addition to shows meant to sell stuff, there are also things like job fairs, beauty pageants, pet shows, safety days, and so on. They also provide a place to show off big collections or other items of interest. This can be done in the middle of the walkway or plaza, depending on mall shape, and/or in a store slot. Our local mall still does that with things like a holiday village of figurines in a store slot, and the model railway display when it comes is so big that it sprawls down much of the midlane. People come to look at the cool things and, of course, usually end up buying something from somewhere.
* Some malls have auxiliary space beyond the retail floor(s), usually either the basement or top floor. This can hold nonretail businesses such as offices, lawyers, counselors, tutors, a walk-in clinic, etc. It provides a different reason for people to visit the mall, and maybe shop before or after their other activity. It also draws on another branch of the economy than retail stores, offering a buffer against economic swings.
* Public art makes for a beautiful and peaceful atmosphere. Most malls in both worlds have some combination of fountains, fish ponds, charity wishing wells, statues, murals, sculptures, planters, and other attractions. In T-America, these types of public art are very popular and may be funded by the mall owners and/or the municipal budget. That helps support more municipal and business artists, which helps keep the money cycling.
* Exercise is important for everyone. Here, a few malls encourage walkers, especially at less-busy times of day. Others have mini-playgrounds for children and/or a fitness center for adults. In T-America, exercise is part of public life. The mall itself often incorporates gentle ramps and stairs. Long staircases to upper stories typically have artwork, light shows, sound systems, or other interactive elements to encourage folks to climb them. There is usually at least one playground for children and a fitness center for adults.
* Food and beverages keep people in the mall longer, and make it easy for employees to take care of themselves on breaks. It's good to have a mix of permanent restaurants and rotating suppliers like food carts and food trucks, so people have reliable favorites and variety so they don't get bored. Larger malls usually have a food court, while smaller ones may have one or two eateries scattered among the stores. T-American malls tend to insist on a range from healthy to indulgent food, instead of having all junk. A typical mix might include a pizzaria, a sandwich place, one or more ethnic restaurants, a salad bar, an ice cream parlor, and a juice or smoothie bar. Something far more common there than here is a fruit stand offering everything from whole fresh fruit to fruit cups and fruit salads, larger carved fruits to share, sometimes combined with a juice/smoothie bar.
* Good malls are family-friendly environments. There is something for everyone to do and to enjoy shopping for. In T-America, larger malls often have a daycare, reading room, play gym, or other space with staff so parents can drop off small children and then go shopping. Many of these have a mix of fully-trained employees and volunteers, which makes a great opportunity for young people who want to work with children or seniors who want more social interaction outside their own age group. A mall that has a maternity store and/or toy store may also host family events around that storefront.
* Senior citizens have lots of time on their hands. They don't always have as much money or company. So they gravitate to malls as a place to spend time around other people in a comfortable environment. A few L-American malls, and most T-American malls, have something like a Golden Eagles social club and/or Silver Sneakers exercise club for seniors. While they may not buy something every time they come, they usually do buy things occasionally. And they're free watchdogs. People who come to the mall regularly to walk will notice when the fountain glitches or some guy is creeping on the girls. If the mall treats seniors well, they will report problems so those can get fixed. A particularly astute mall will arrange meetings between its senior and junior clubs, which benefits both groups. This helps seniors stay more active and involved in community, while encouraging youth to find mentors and learn social skills. Since people tend to buy gifts for friends on special occasions, and these folks are in the mall a lot, that contributes to the profit margin.
* Youth also have lots of free time. If they have an allowance or a job, they have some spending money. They're at a time in their life when they need to lean away from their parents, connect with peers, discover themselves, and feel out their place in community. Sure they'll make some mistakes, but everybody does that and teens need a safe place to make mistakes. It's also better to do that while young and move on, than reach adulthood with no real sense of independence. It is much safer for youth to have a public place to congregate, where nearby adults can intervene in case of mishaps, than for them to sneak off by themselves and get into trouble. In this regard, the mall functions as a miniature society where people can socialize, shop, eat, and otherwise interact. Young people get plentiful feedback from older citizens as to whether their behavior is laudable, tolerable, or unacceptable. Good behavior is rewarded, while bad behavior may get them scolded or kicked out. It is absolutely vital for adults to distinguish between the two, because otherwise kids tend to do whatever feels good, which rarely has desirable results.
In pursuit of this, T-America malls often have clubs or other activities for youth. If they have auxiliary space, it's a good meeting place for Activity Scouts, volunteer organizations, and other youth groups. In general, T-America expects youth to behave decently and only interrupts if they do not. Well-behaved youth are unlikely to be bothered. Teens with babysitting credentials can make themselves known to the mall staff and definitely not get hassled for having a younger child in tow, unless there's a problem, although it's not required to have such credentials. This meshes with the fact that T-American youth often start earning practical credentials like babysitting cards, a bike license, and bus mastery as tweens or early teens. In fact, one who can't manage at least some self-direction by 13 or 14 raises concerns, because then they're only a few years from when they might start driving a car.
Many T-American malls have something like a Junior Citizens program that youth may enter whenever they're mature enough to pass a basic test on public skills. Then there's an orientation meeting about how the mall works and a tour of its facilities. That's usually the end of the required stuff. Typically there are more sessions that members can take to earn points which can be redeemed for store discounts, free food, free arcade tokens, and other goodies. Common offerings include Mall Safety, Citizen Law for Shopping Centers, Basic Budgeting, Smart Shopping, Grace and Courtesy, Hanging Out with Friends, Young Love, Helping Out at the Mall, and So You Want to Work at the Mall. The first two usually have the highest reward because they promote safety, but they're one-time classes; volunteering at the mall is a high-reward, ongoing option while Grace and Courtesy tends to rotate through many different topics at moderate reward rates. It's very common for youth to start with volunteering, then go to light work such as greeting people or passing out flyers, and eventually hire on as mall staff. It gets them involved in community, encourages and rewards good behavior, and promotes a healthy work ethic -- without the wage theft of forced "volunteering" that L-America attempts. People who grow up thinking of the mall as a fun, safe, productive place are more likely to keep going there as adults even if most of them wind up working somewhere else after they get out of school. But it's the first place they'll probably think of if they decide to start their own business.
Naturally, when you have humans rambling around together, some will misbehave; statistically speaking, a majority of these will be young, because most people outgrow wild behavior by their 30s or so. Other times, people might cause minor conflicts and not even realize it. Remember that discipline teaches, while punishment hurts. Think about how to repair relationships after a mistake. Consider some examples:
Walkers are getting in the way of other people.
Okay: "Hey, you're kind of clogging traffic here. Also you're getting bumped around and that doesn't look like fun. Let's sit down in this rest area and talk about how to solve that problem. There are times the mall is less busy. Could you come here then to walk? There's also a gym with treadmills where you could get a membership, which has a senior discount. If you're looking for free space, the community center has free days sometimes and the park has a walking path."
Not okay: Banning senior citizens from the mall.
An unaccompanied child makes a mess.
Okay: "Whoops, that's quite a mess. Let's clean it up together, because we like to keep our mall tidy. Then we'll go find your parents. It looks like you're not ready to shop by yourself yet. Don't worry, you'll grow into it eventually."
Not okay: Banning all minors from shopping alone.
Someone spits on the floor.
Okay: "We don't spit on the floor in here. It is rude and unsanitary. Now you can mop this rest area and then go about your business, or be banned from the mall for a week. If you keep spitting on the floor, the ban will get longer, because we like to keep our mall clean. Your choice."
Not okay: Banning everyone who remotely resembles the person who spit on the floor.
Someone whistles at ladies walking by.
Okay: "Whistling at ladies is rude at best and illegal harassment at worst. Also it makes folks think you are a poor excuse for a man. Now you can go take an afternoon class in manners at the community center and come back after that, or be banned from the mall for a month. If you keep pestering the ladies, the ban will get longer, because we expect people to treat each other with respect in here. Your choice."
Not okay: Banning all men who might conceivably whistle at women.
Someone plays with their pocketknife in public (other than legitimate tool use).
Okay: "Put that away. A knife is a tool, not a toy. You could hurt yourself or someone else doing that. Also it makes you look irresponsible. If you need something to play with, child fidgets are for sale in the toy store, adult fidgets are for sale in the office store, and there's a box of all kinds in the quiet room for people to borrow. Now you can go take a knife safety class at the knife shop in the east wing, and come back after that, or be banned from the mall for two months. Do it again and the ban will get longer, because people don't like to see someone goofing around with sharp things. Your choice."
Infantilization: Banning all sharp tools from public places. Responsible adults should know how to handle dangerous things safely, and should not be treated like children or criminals.
Someone assaults another person, whether a shopper or a mall employee trying to maintain order.
Okay: Call the police. It is their job to deal with that stuff. Have a mall policy matched to common crimes so that each offense leads to a consistent consequence. This may be a ban on returning to the mall, a requirement for supervision, a term of community service, etc. in addition to whatever the court may impose. Generally, a minor crime should lead to a temporary ban, while a major crime may reasonably lead to a permanent ban.
Discrimination: Banning all youth. Banning all black people. Banning all Muslims. Et cetera ad nauseam.
Bear in mind that well-behaved people and poorly behaved people may view things very differently. Getting arrested is scary and embarrassing to generally lawful people. But to many hooligans, it is cool. Rowdier ones who have been arrested or jailed are viewed with more respect by their peers. This makes it much less useful as a deterrent. Having to mop the floor you spit on? Having to help inventory the store you shoplifted from? Boring and NOT COOL. Hooligan friends will laugh. This increases the chance that wild young things will either behave better, or decide on their own that they would rather go horse around somewhere else.
Furthermore, teaching youth what behavior is expected will give them a chance to make more mindful decisions in the future. Understand that many people who behave badly have grown up in a lousy environment where nobody modeled decent behavior. If someone else doesn't teach them, they will go right on not knowing better and behaving badly. Nagging and threatening don't work; modeling does. If you want people to behave well, you have to make sure they know how, set a good example, encourage positive behavior, and discourage negative behavior.
In local-America, alas, the era of malls seems to be waning due to a variety of factors ranging from rich people sucking all the money out of the economy to mall owners making policies that drive away stores and customers. Manipulative leasing rules have gone from driving out unique and interesting proprietary shops, so that malls became almost entirely chain store enclaves, to driving away even the chain stores. :( In more and more malls, discriminatory rules now ban senior citizens and/or all minors unless accompanied by a parent. >_< Well obviously, those are the people with the most time and interest to spend in malls, so if you drive them out, you don't have much customer base left. And if you make the mall youth-hostile, people will not grow up hanging out in the mall, which means they won't think of it as a place to spend their money when they are adults with jobs. *kawhoosh* That's the sound of millions of dollars flushed down the economic stream to Amazon or iTunes.
So let's take a look at malls in Terramagne-America, which have expanded on the idea of the agora ...
* Malls are a place where people come to browse and buy stuff. So in addition to the permanent stores, they often have food carts, food trucks, kiosks, and other moveable features. Then there are shows. Car shows, collectible card shows, antique shows, trade shows, flea markets, etc. A thriving T-American mall has some kind of special activity happening 2-3 weekends out of the month, and occasionally weekday events targeted to audiences who don't shop much on weekends. A senior event might run on weekday mornings when the walking club is bustling.
* A free-flowing audience of potential customers makes it much easier to start a retail business than doing it on the street where you have to pull them in. Remember Arcadia East? They have those relatively small shops, and a lot of turnover -- not because many shops fail out like here, but because the successful ones outgrow the slot and move to a bigger space elsewhere. They are literally generating small businesses and turning them into bigger businesses. \o/ Most malls have stores of varying sizes, from big department stores in the anchor positions to medium and small stores in the slots. T-America usually has a medium-to-large slot that can be subdivided into sections for retailers who can't afford a whole separate storefront yet. The idea is that the unsuccessful ones will fail without losing too much investment, and the successful ones will grow into a storefront of their own.
* Malls provide a big social center with a lid on it. So in addition to shows meant to sell stuff, there are also things like job fairs, beauty pageants, pet shows, safety days, and so on. They also provide a place to show off big collections or other items of interest. This can be done in the middle of the walkway or plaza, depending on mall shape, and/or in a store slot. Our local mall still does that with things like a holiday village of figurines in a store slot, and the model railway display when it comes is so big that it sprawls down much of the midlane. People come to look at the cool things and, of course, usually end up buying something from somewhere.
* Some malls have auxiliary space beyond the retail floor(s), usually either the basement or top floor. This can hold nonretail businesses such as offices, lawyers, counselors, tutors, a walk-in clinic, etc. It provides a different reason for people to visit the mall, and maybe shop before or after their other activity. It also draws on another branch of the economy than retail stores, offering a buffer against economic swings.
* Public art makes for a beautiful and peaceful atmosphere. Most malls in both worlds have some combination of fountains, fish ponds, charity wishing wells, statues, murals, sculptures, planters, and other attractions. In T-America, these types of public art are very popular and may be funded by the mall owners and/or the municipal budget. That helps support more municipal and business artists, which helps keep the money cycling.
* Exercise is important for everyone. Here, a few malls encourage walkers, especially at less-busy times of day. Others have mini-playgrounds for children and/or a fitness center for adults. In T-America, exercise is part of public life. The mall itself often incorporates gentle ramps and stairs. Long staircases to upper stories typically have artwork, light shows, sound systems, or other interactive elements to encourage folks to climb them. There is usually at least one playground for children and a fitness center for adults.
* Food and beverages keep people in the mall longer, and make it easy for employees to take care of themselves on breaks. It's good to have a mix of permanent restaurants and rotating suppliers like food carts and food trucks, so people have reliable favorites and variety so they don't get bored. Larger malls usually have a food court, while smaller ones may have one or two eateries scattered among the stores. T-American malls tend to insist on a range from healthy to indulgent food, instead of having all junk. A typical mix might include a pizzaria, a sandwich place, one or more ethnic restaurants, a salad bar, an ice cream parlor, and a juice or smoothie bar. Something far more common there than here is a fruit stand offering everything from whole fresh fruit to fruit cups and fruit salads, larger carved fruits to share, sometimes combined with a juice/smoothie bar.
* Good malls are family-friendly environments. There is something for everyone to do and to enjoy shopping for. In T-America, larger malls often have a daycare, reading room, play gym, or other space with staff so parents can drop off small children and then go shopping. Many of these have a mix of fully-trained employees and volunteers, which makes a great opportunity for young people who want to work with children or seniors who want more social interaction outside their own age group. A mall that has a maternity store and/or toy store may also host family events around that storefront.
* Senior citizens have lots of time on their hands. They don't always have as much money or company. So they gravitate to malls as a place to spend time around other people in a comfortable environment. A few L-American malls, and most T-American malls, have something like a Golden Eagles social club and/or Silver Sneakers exercise club for seniors. While they may not buy something every time they come, they usually do buy things occasionally. And they're free watchdogs. People who come to the mall regularly to walk will notice when the fountain glitches or some guy is creeping on the girls. If the mall treats seniors well, they will report problems so those can get fixed. A particularly astute mall will arrange meetings between its senior and junior clubs, which benefits both groups. This helps seniors stay more active and involved in community, while encouraging youth to find mentors and learn social skills. Since people tend to buy gifts for friends on special occasions, and these folks are in the mall a lot, that contributes to the profit margin.
* Youth also have lots of free time. If they have an allowance or a job, they have some spending money. They're at a time in their life when they need to lean away from their parents, connect with peers, discover themselves, and feel out their place in community. Sure they'll make some mistakes, but everybody does that and teens need a safe place to make mistakes. It's also better to do that while young and move on, than reach adulthood with no real sense of independence. It is much safer for youth to have a public place to congregate, where nearby adults can intervene in case of mishaps, than for them to sneak off by themselves and get into trouble. In this regard, the mall functions as a miniature society where people can socialize, shop, eat, and otherwise interact. Young people get plentiful feedback from older citizens as to whether their behavior is laudable, tolerable, or unacceptable. Good behavior is rewarded, while bad behavior may get them scolded or kicked out. It is absolutely vital for adults to distinguish between the two, because otherwise kids tend to do whatever feels good, which rarely has desirable results.
In pursuit of this, T-America malls often have clubs or other activities for youth. If they have auxiliary space, it's a good meeting place for Activity Scouts, volunteer organizations, and other youth groups. In general, T-America expects youth to behave decently and only interrupts if they do not. Well-behaved youth are unlikely to be bothered. Teens with babysitting credentials can make themselves known to the mall staff and definitely not get hassled for having a younger child in tow, unless there's a problem, although it's not required to have such credentials. This meshes with the fact that T-American youth often start earning practical credentials like babysitting cards, a bike license, and bus mastery as tweens or early teens. In fact, one who can't manage at least some self-direction by 13 or 14 raises concerns, because then they're only a few years from when they might start driving a car.
Many T-American malls have something like a Junior Citizens program that youth may enter whenever they're mature enough to pass a basic test on public skills. Then there's an orientation meeting about how the mall works and a tour of its facilities. That's usually the end of the required stuff. Typically there are more sessions that members can take to earn points which can be redeemed for store discounts, free food, free arcade tokens, and other goodies. Common offerings include Mall Safety, Citizen Law for Shopping Centers, Basic Budgeting, Smart Shopping, Grace and Courtesy, Hanging Out with Friends, Young Love, Helping Out at the Mall, and So You Want to Work at the Mall. The first two usually have the highest reward because they promote safety, but they're one-time classes; volunteering at the mall is a high-reward, ongoing option while Grace and Courtesy tends to rotate through many different topics at moderate reward rates. It's very common for youth to start with volunteering, then go to light work such as greeting people or passing out flyers, and eventually hire on as mall staff. It gets them involved in community, encourages and rewards good behavior, and promotes a healthy work ethic -- without the wage theft of forced "volunteering" that L-America attempts. People who grow up thinking of the mall as a fun, safe, productive place are more likely to keep going there as adults even if most of them wind up working somewhere else after they get out of school. But it's the first place they'll probably think of if they decide to start their own business.
Naturally, when you have humans rambling around together, some will misbehave; statistically speaking, a majority of these will be young, because most people outgrow wild behavior by their 30s or so. Other times, people might cause minor conflicts and not even realize it. Remember that discipline teaches, while punishment hurts. Think about how to repair relationships after a mistake. Consider some examples:
Walkers are getting in the way of other people.
Okay: "Hey, you're kind of clogging traffic here. Also you're getting bumped around and that doesn't look like fun. Let's sit down in this rest area and talk about how to solve that problem. There are times the mall is less busy. Could you come here then to walk? There's also a gym with treadmills where you could get a membership, which has a senior discount. If you're looking for free space, the community center has free days sometimes and the park has a walking path."
Not okay: Banning senior citizens from the mall.
An unaccompanied child makes a mess.
Okay: "Whoops, that's quite a mess. Let's clean it up together, because we like to keep our mall tidy. Then we'll go find your parents. It looks like you're not ready to shop by yourself yet. Don't worry, you'll grow into it eventually."
Not okay: Banning all minors from shopping alone.
Someone spits on the floor.
Okay: "We don't spit on the floor in here. It is rude and unsanitary. Now you can mop this rest area and then go about your business, or be banned from the mall for a week. If you keep spitting on the floor, the ban will get longer, because we like to keep our mall clean. Your choice."
Not okay: Banning everyone who remotely resembles the person who spit on the floor.
Someone whistles at ladies walking by.
Okay: "Whistling at ladies is rude at best and illegal harassment at worst. Also it makes folks think you are a poor excuse for a man. Now you can go take an afternoon class in manners at the community center and come back after that, or be banned from the mall for a month. If you keep pestering the ladies, the ban will get longer, because we expect people to treat each other with respect in here. Your choice."
Not okay: Banning all men who might conceivably whistle at women.
Someone plays with their pocketknife in public (other than legitimate tool use).
Okay: "Put that away. A knife is a tool, not a toy. You could hurt yourself or someone else doing that. Also it makes you look irresponsible. If you need something to play with, child fidgets are for sale in the toy store, adult fidgets are for sale in the office store, and there's a box of all kinds in the quiet room for people to borrow. Now you can go take a knife safety class at the knife shop in the east wing, and come back after that, or be banned from the mall for two months. Do it again and the ban will get longer, because people don't like to see someone goofing around with sharp things. Your choice."
Infantilization: Banning all sharp tools from public places. Responsible adults should know how to handle dangerous things safely, and should not be treated like children or criminals.
Someone assaults another person, whether a shopper or a mall employee trying to maintain order.
Okay: Call the police. It is their job to deal with that stuff. Have a mall policy matched to common crimes so that each offense leads to a consistent consequence. This may be a ban on returning to the mall, a requirement for supervision, a term of community service, etc. in addition to whatever the court may impose. Generally, a minor crime should lead to a temporary ban, while a major crime may reasonably lead to a permanent ban.
Discrimination: Banning all youth. Banning all black people. Banning all Muslims. Et cetera ad nauseam.
Bear in mind that well-behaved people and poorly behaved people may view things very differently. Getting arrested is scary and embarrassing to generally lawful people. But to many hooligans, it is cool. Rowdier ones who have been arrested or jailed are viewed with more respect by their peers. This makes it much less useful as a deterrent. Having to mop the floor you spit on? Having to help inventory the store you shoplifted from? Boring and NOT COOL. Hooligan friends will laugh. This increases the chance that wild young things will either behave better, or decide on their own that they would rather go horse around somewhere else.
Furthermore, teaching youth what behavior is expected will give them a chance to make more mindful decisions in the future. Understand that many people who behave badly have grown up in a lousy environment where nobody modeled decent behavior. If someone else doesn't teach them, they will go right on not knowing better and behaving badly. Nagging and threatening don't work; modeling does. If you want people to behave well, you have to make sure they know how, set a good example, encourage positive behavior, and discourage negative behavior.
(no subject)
Date: 2017-12-30 10:28 am (UTC)The closest shopping centre to me is very small and not very exciting - but it does have a genuine piece of art by a world class (local) sculptor, Barbara Hepworth*, which I always think is incredibly cool.
*Her best known work is probably the Dag Hammerskjöld memorial outside the UN building in New York.
Thoughts
Date: 2017-12-30 10:42 am (UTC)Because they're considered ugly, useless, in the way, and not desirably shoppers. It started not long after malls got away with banning teens. I'm sure they'll think of more untouchables to boot next.
>> The closest shopping centre to me is very small and not very exciting - but it does have a genuine piece of art by a world class (local) sculptor, Barbara Hepworth*, which I always think is incredibly cool.<<
Lovely! It's important for local businesses to support local artists. That's how you keep diversity instead of all America having the same 20 prints. :P
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2019-06-27 01:19 am (UTC)Re: Thoughts
Date: 2019-06-27 02:32 am (UTC)The bans on seniors start when old people begin using the mall to walk in because they don't have a better place that's free. So bans may be more frequent places that have more seniors and/or inclement weather of various types.
(no subject)
Date: 2017-12-30 12:58 pm (UTC)And then, there is this trend which is just starting up in L-America that almost looks like something Terramagne would do: turning abandoned malls into a mix of retail and micro-apartments, for people who are just starting out (the $550 a month rent, is less T-American, though): https://www.curbed.com/2014/8/29/10054364/americas-first-shopping-mall-is-now-stuffed-with-micro-homes
Thoughts
Date: 2017-12-30 07:57 pm (UTC)Those issues overlap with wider issues throughout L-America.
* Poor zoning management has made L-America much less walkable than T-America. This causes all kinds of problems everywhere, and is extremely difficult to fix due to bureaucratic inertia. It is literally illegal to solve many of those problems, even if you know how, unless you manage to change the laws.
Conversely, T-America is much more walkable. They're serious about public health, so there are sidewalks and often bike paths connecting important places. A mall there isn't in a dead zone. It's usually in a mini-hub with nearby outbuildings, a park, and residences (often apartment buildings). So you have a bunch of fun things for people to do, a cluster of jobs, and people to do them.
* Public transportation is much better in T-America, although nicer neighborhoods will of course have better services. But even in less-great neighborhoods, people like Shiv and Turq don't need a car to get around. They just have to hoof it farther and wait longer for a bus. Many of T-America's poorer neighborhoods probably have better mass transit than better ones here. In a good neighborhood, like Stan's, the wait between daytime buses rarely seems to last longer than 5-10 minutes. They are always running and always have people on them, although the crowd size varies by time of day.
But it gets better. In addition to the municipal bus, commuter train, and other services there are smaller ones that take up some of the weight. Many apartment buildings, large buildings, and destinations own shuttlebuses. So do municipal entities like police and charities or other social programs like ADA transit. So a mall becomes a destination for other people's private buses, and may have its own that get sent to customer clusters which are underserved by other options. The mall's fleet pretty much pays for itself by raising customer traffic, so it's cheap for random people and either discounted or free for mall members (staff plus customers in any of its reward/frequent shopper programs or other clubs). That greatly encourages youth to join the Junior Citizen club and elders to join the senior club.
In a little slice of Terramagne: yesterday we overheard a family at the mall who stopped over due to the lousy road conditions. They got the storm rate at the hotel (and it wasn't a blizzard, they're evidently instating that whenever people start pulling off the highway) including pool and free breakfast -- and the hotel shuttled them to the mall for a few hours before bedtime. \o/ I bet that hotel gets a ton of repeat customers from travelers, and recommendations from mall staff.
* Due to a confluence of the above and other factors, car ownership is lower in T-America than in L-America. Most people who live in town don't need a car, although many have one for the convenience. Lower car use, plus higher walking and public transit, mean that malls need fewer parking spaces. They're also more prone to have structured parking than acres of blacktop, which means they have room for adjacent parks. This makes it easy to deal with rambunctious children or teens by saying, "If you have so much energy, take it outside. Come back when you're ready to walk nicely and use your indoor voice."
>> And then, there is this trend which is just starting up in L-America that almost looks like something Terramagne would do: turning abandoned malls into a mix of retail and micro-apartments, for people who are just starting out<<
T-America is much more fond of mixed-use neighborhoods and multipurpose buildings, so this kind of thing is popular. Some multistory buildings have a retail flow below and housing/offices above. Smaller malls often have an apartment complex nearby. And more neighborhoods are mixed-income with a range of small houses, large houses, and apartment buildings.
>> (the $550 a month rent, is less T-American, though): <<
I would bet that Arcadia East is simply charging people ~30% of income if they have a job, and subsidizing it if they don't. Kraken has the money, even if they're not getting enough from the government. Probably the government isn't giving them enough public housing subsidies for the amount and quality of amenities they have due to special needs that aren't always disclosed.
>> https://www.curbed.com/2014/8/29/10054364/americas-first-shopping-mall-is-now-stuffed-with-micro-homes <<
:D That actually is the model I used for Arcadia East, although not all the stores are the same and the basement is particular to T-America.
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2017-12-30 08:10 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2018-01-01 08:08 pm (UTC)$550 was the cheapest rent in my university town in rural Mississippi and it was a 600sqft two bedroom apartment on the second floor. The turnover in that complex was extremely low and when someone did move out the place didn't stay empty for long - just long enough for a good cleaning and any incidental repairs or upkeep that needed to be done while tenants weren't there.
(no subject)
Date: 2018-01-02 12:35 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2018-01-04 07:07 am (UTC)Yes ...
Date: 2018-01-04 07:12 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2018-01-04 12:10 pm (UTC)(and then shakes head -- free market capitalism is wild, man, considering that rural university students generally don't have the income to afford that much rent)
(no subject)
Date: 2018-01-04 08:06 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2018-01-04 08:38 pm (UTC)That's obscenely dystopian.
(no subject)
Date: 2018-01-04 10:23 pm (UTC)Well ...
Date: 2018-01-02 02:08 am (UTC)* For responsible household management, aim to spend no more than 30% of your income on rent/mortgage.
* In local America, only .1% of minimum-wage workers can afford a 1-bedroom apartment. In no state can a minimum-wage worker afford a 2-bedroom apartment allowing space for parent(s) and child(ren). To afford a 1-bedroom apartment at 30% percent of income, a worker must earn at least $16.35/hour. For a 2-bedroom apartment it's $20.30/hour.
* In T-America, public housing is customarily set at 30% of income. However, federal housing projects tend to waive rent for people below the poverty line because it saves time and money not shuffling payments back and forth between poor people and the government.
* The federal minimum wage in L-America is $7.25/hour. Some states have it higher, up to $10/hour. A few states adjust it annually based on inflation, which is the smart way to raise it, minimizing price bounces in response. Working 40 hours a week, $7.25/hour adds up to $15,080/year. 30% of that is $4,524 for annual housing costs. Divided by 12, that's $377/month. A sane public housing policy would ensure that each area has enough residences at that level to meet the needs of the local population.
* T-America follows the guideline that a person working full-time should earn enough to live on. If you work full-time but fall below the poverty line, then someone is cheating you of fair recompense. The federal minimum wage is $15/hour and requires equal pay for employees regardless of sex, race, or other non-job reasons. (That doesn't mean everyone follows these rules, of course, but they're supposed to.) States or cities with a higher cost of living tend to have a higher minimum wage. A worker earning $15/hour makes $30,000/year. 30% of that is $9,000/year for housing costs. Divided by 12, that's $750/month. In some states, that's enough for a 1-bedroom apartment, in others you can even afford a 2-bedroom apartment.
* T-American states and towns are required to provide sufficient housing for their citizens, including affordable housing. Public housing and other assistance often comes from a combination of federal, state, and city sources augmented by nonprofit organizations. Towns are also expected to have homeless shelters and other emergency housing appropriate to their needs, so for instance victims of a house fire have a decent place to stay while searching for a new home.
* Also worth mentioning is that T-America has MUCH better amenities. Sure, there are small apartment buildings of 8-12 units that might offer little or nothing, but most have a communal basement and/or yard with things like a washer/dryer and recreation space. The larger apartments customarily have a laundromat, recreation room, quiet room, common kitchen or coffeehouse, a shuttlebus, and/or other goodies. This encourages people to socialize and makes it easier for them to get where they need to go. Many amenities are actually businesses owned by one or more residents, especially things like a salon or coffeehouse. That lower the cost to other residents who pay collectively for things like the quiet room.
For T-American examples, compare the Skylark Apartment Building in Onion City (Chicago, IL) and Arcadia East in Eastbord (Providence, RI). You can also compare Shiv's efficiency apartment in public housing, which he gets because he just came out of prison, with his 1-bedroom apartment over Blues Moon where he works.
(no subject)
Date: 2017-12-30 02:07 pm (UTC)You know, when you lay it out like that... what you're describing is basically one of the better British shopping centres [functionally, superficially, similar to a mall.] but I had no idea American malls weren't the same! Heck, we even call them malls now thanks to American cultural contamination. But even the worst malls here are more like T-American ones than the L-American ones [I assume] you're describing in contrast.
Thoughts
Date: 2017-12-30 08:21 pm (UTC)You really can't have much of a gang problem in a busy mall because there isn't room. Shoplifting is exponentially harder in a place with many eyeballs. Pickpocketing, of course, gets easier the denser the crowd but there is no getting around that with any human gathering. It is a fundamental tenet of urban planning that more people out in public will drive down the crime rate.
I'm glad that shopping centers in your area are better.
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2017-12-30 09:30 pm (UTC)Some of the early shopping centres were something you'd recognise as akin to late-stage shopping malls... devoid of any social connections etc... they didn't last long. They either upgraded or died. The shopping centres ended up realising they had to do something to attract people away from town centres... so, they did more of what people wanted.
It's still a struggle... we get some bright spark property developer who thinks all they have to do be successful is copy what the Americans do... and we end up with another zombie mall, shortly to become an empty shell. Because just another box stuffed with chain stores doesn't do enough business, to stay in business very long.
(no subject)
Date: 2017-12-30 08:03 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2017-12-30 08:16 pm (UTC)Okay ...
Date: 2017-12-30 08:25 pm (UTC)Re: Okay ...
Date: 2017-12-30 08:31 pm (UTC)(To be fair, I'm chronically "wearing a shade of 'i slept like crap'" due to anxiety and other things, so sometimes I have a mind like a steel trap...and sometimes more like swiss cheese, lol)
We've got a dying mall at our end, and I was contemplating that something very much like that tiny-apartments-plus-retail setup would work very nicely there, and there's already plenty of parking. :)
Re: Okay ...
Date: 2017-12-30 08:46 pm (UTC)*chuckle* It's okay. I actually write everything. What is selling best right now is poetry. Several of these collections are novel-size now. (Also at least a couple of my fans have written novels set in Terramagne.) Fiction ... if you added up my Torn World stuff, it's probably novel size, but not all in the same narrative. There's other stuff but not all readily accessible.
>> We've got a dying mall at our end, and I was contemplating that something very much like that tiny-apartments-plus-retail setup would work very nicely there, and there's already plenty of parking. :) <<
Then by all means propose that. Owners of dying malls are sometimes pigheaded, but other times just can't figure out what to do and would love suggestions. If you can't get them to try a mixed-use building with residences, at least tidy up the rest of the list into business language and propose smaller-scale changes. Many malls are probably salvageable with less drastic measures, and some of the solutions are even free or cheap. Malls can survive if people want them to and put effort into making them successful.
(no subject)
Date: 2018-01-01 06:47 pm (UTC)Thoughts
Date: 2018-01-02 06:00 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2017-12-30 11:04 pm (UTC)Part of what did it was the owner got super apathetic and was sort of trying to non-manage the mall into death and insurance payout and let the stores do as they pleased as long as it didn't cause conflict he had to sort. One of the first things they did in the new anarchy was ask the local model train club if they wanted the old New York and Co storefront to put train sets in. Then from there, and all the hobbyists that came in, they co-opted the center halls for art students to put on shows, charity drives, basically all the fun stuff the workers wanted to get to do on their breaks.
When the mall started to make money again, the owner stuck his nose back in and tried to ban teens and anyone in "headcoverings" (it was painfully clear he meant hijabs). This was met by a brigade of nuns, Scout Troops, and retired hippies showing strong and glaring him down. Now it's very open to customers and although we don't have monthly student art fairs anymore (he had a point that everyone was cutting out of work early to help with tear-down), we do have canned-food art contests during the Harvesters drive.
(no subject)
Date: 2018-01-04 12:15 pm (UTC)