My interest isn't so much as stopping the mall, and turning it into housing, but (EDIT: being US centric) incorporating the (until suburbia took over vast swath

My interest isn't so much as stopping the mall, and turning it into housing, but (EDIT: being US centric) incorporating the (until suburbia took over vast swaths of land) ages old tradition of living and work/market areas mixed together into the new architecture of suburbia and the malls. I can see a potential access benefit for living within walking distance of daily needs for folks who are losing or have lost mobility. If you don't have to drive, then you use less fuel, if there are other ways that can be implemented to reduce energy consumption, then there is potential "green space." Malls don't have to be just shops, medical facilities, services, light manufacturing. From what I've seen in new stores going into malls, the retail spaces in malls were designed for stores to move in and restructure in that space. Then there is the counterpoint of "Do I want to have my store/business in such close proximity to all these people living?" I think that there is a lot of promise and a lot of problems in this idea of a new suburban "urban center" based around renewing/reinventing the mall. And there is the stigma, to many, of the name "mall."