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The core of the argument here seems to be that the current downtown is more 'financially productive' than the mall, but it also seems that the entire reason the
by opencl 9y ago
The core of the argument here seems to be that the current downtown is more 'financially productive' than the mall, but it also seems that the entire reason the downtown is financially productive is that it isn't retail. As the article notes, the downtown retail shops all went out of business decades ago because they weren't making any money. Why would downtown retail magically be super prosperous today if the mall hadn't been built back then? The entire brick and mortar retail industry is collapsing right now. Presumably most of what's left is office space, and of course office space would rake in more money per acre than retail.
- state_less 9y agoWhy go into an office though? Isn’t business also running into the same overhead with physical space? It costs money to rent this space and much office work is information based now, isn’t it better for most of us to simply stay at home in the Information Age? It’d be nice to make these old malls with well connected roads into places where digital nomads can hang out, live and commune with one another. Add some tiny homes and maker spaces, fiber optic broadband and fast wireless. Put up some solar panels on the roof and by all means, listen for what is coming with the next generation.