4 ms·

Really I think these "main streets shops" are designs to replace strip malls in suburban environments, which in my opinion is infinitely better.

ses1984 7y ago
Isn't it pretty much the exact same thing?
- alistairSH 7y ago
  Yes, just tarted-up a bit.
- treis 7y ago
  This one is pretty much the same thing, but there are plenty of others that combine shopping/residential in one. Effectively a suburban mall with apartments on top. Not my cup of tea, but clearly a step up in walkability over a traditional suburb.
- devchix 7y ago
  But worse, now you're at the mercy of inclement weather. Near where I live there's a movie theatre at the center of one of these outdoors shopping mall. You line up outside the building to buy tickets. It's a nod to the old-time theatre with the kiosk and ticket-taker but it's cold to queue up in the winter and miserably hot in the summer. There's no awning or overhang or trees. One good-ish thing: in the summer they turn on the outside fountains and kids play there, in the evenings people hang out outside. But it's all driven by commerce, it's not a place that people just gravitate to, it doesn't have its own sense of place, the way a small little urban park is its own place. I wish there were more tiny little urban parks, nothing major, just a small oasis with trees, grass, and some benches. But because we're surrounded by a concrete ocean, who would ever drive to such an insignificant park and enjoy it. The bench will attract the homeless, even less reason to make this space. I can't even articulate the problem - other than infrastructure seems to be going in the wrong direction.
- logfromblammo 7y ago
  Not exactly. They put the parking in the back. Or the center. Or whatever. Somewhere you can't see it right away. It's different. Better! Because this way if you put the strip malls across the street from each other, it's like one double-wide strip mall, instead of two separate strip malls with a double-size parking lot in between. I guess it's not strictly necessary to keep the car traffic between the malls, but that way, you can reduce the speed limit to 15 mph and then still hit pedestrians trying to cross. Fun!

ses1984 7y ago

Isn't it pretty much the exact same thing?

alistairSH 7y ago
Yes, just tarted-up a bit.
treis 7y ago
This one is pretty much the same thing, but there are plenty of others that combine shopping/residential in one. Effectively a suburban mall with apartments on top. Not my cup of tea, but clearly a step up in walkability over a traditional suburb.
devchix 7y ago
But worse, now you're at the mercy of inclement weather. Near where I live there's a movie theatre at the center of one of these outdoors shopping mall. You line up outside the building to buy tickets. It's a nod to the old-time theatre with the kiosk and ticket-taker but it's cold to queue up in the winter and miserably hot in the summer. There's no awning or overhang or trees. One good-ish thing: in the summer they turn on the outside fountains and kids play there, in the evenings people hang out outside. But it's all driven by commerce, it's not a place that people just gravitate to, it doesn't have its own sense of place, the way a small little urban park is its own place. I wish there were more tiny little urban parks, nothing major, just a small oasis with trees, grass, and some benches. But because we're surrounded by a concrete ocean, who would ever drive to such an insignificant park and enjoy it. The bench will attract the homeless, even less reason to make this space. I can't even articulate the problem - other than infrastructure seems to be going in the wrong direction.
logfromblammo 7y ago
Not exactly. They put the parking in the back. Or the center. Or whatever. Somewhere you can't see it right away. It's different. Better! Because this way if you put the strip malls across the street from each other, it's like one double-wide strip mall, instead of two separate strip malls with a double-size parking lot in between. I guess it's not strictly necessary to keep the car traffic between the malls, but that way, you can reduce the speed limit to 15 mph and then still hit pedestrians trying to cross. Fun!