Why are there so many strip malls?
video description
It's particularly interesting to note that immigrant communities use these strip malls for their business in the US. This is true in Canada as well, in particular, the Scarborough area of Toronto. Most of the best ethnic shops and restaurants are in strip malls. Very interesting!
Date: 2020-10-16
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Comments and reviews: 9
Mark
We don't really have these in the UK, but we do sometimes have small groups of shops (say 3 or 4 in a row) in residential areas with a few parking spaces. We also have the larger retail parks (what you call power centers) and malls, but most of our shops are in high streets (downtown areas) or individual shops. I guess the key difference is the amount of parking. In the UK, you mainly walk or bike to these kinds of shops, you would only drive to retail parks, supermarkets or malls, and if you went to a high street and you wanted to drive, you usually have to park in a public car park and pay a few pounds per hour, so you tend to go to multiple shops to make the most of the journey. Strip malls certainly are convenient if you hate walking, but are ugly as heck, a huge waste of space and bad for the environment. It amazes me how they still remain viable in the U. S. and Canada, but I think it's just because driving and parking is so easy/cheap and there's no walkable alternative. I remember going to a strip mall in Canada with my wife and she wanted to go across to another strip mall on the other side of the road. She's Canadian and went to go and drive across to it. I was shocked! I said we should walk, but then when we tried, I realised why she wanted to drive. It was such a challenge to cross 2 parking lots and 6 lanes of road with no pedestrians crossings! The whole infrastructure needs re-thinking to get people out of their cars.
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We don't really have these in the UK, but we do sometimes have small groups of shops (say 3 or 4 in a row) in residential areas with a few parking spaces. We also have the larger retail parks (what you call power centers) and malls, but most of our shops are in high streets (downtown areas) or individual shops. I guess the key difference is the amount of parking. In the UK, you mainly walk or bike to these kinds of shops, you would only drive to retail parks, supermarkets or malls, and if you went to a high street and you wanted to drive, you usually have to park in a public car park and pay a few pounds per hour, so you tend to go to multiple shops to make the most of the journey. Strip malls certainly are convenient if you hate walking, but are ugly as heck, a huge waste of space and bad for the environment. It amazes me how they still remain viable in the U. S. and Canada, but I think it's just because driving and parking is so easy/cheap and there's no walkable alternative. I remember going to a strip mall in Canada with my wife and she wanted to go across to another strip mall on the other side of the road. She's Canadian and went to go and drive across to it. I was shocked! I said we should walk, but then when we tried, I realised why she wanted to drive. It was such a challenge to cross 2 parking lots and 6 lanes of road with no pedestrians crossings! The whole infrastructure needs re-thinking to get people out of their cars.
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Liberation
When I got a job at the airport, I reluctantly had to buy a car and could no longer use the train to get to work. My commute involved driving up a large, four lane road that was lined on both sides with endless strip malls. I found it profoundly ugly and depressing, to the point where it had a noticeable affect on my mood each day. I suppose that strip malls may be something that just comes hand-in-hand with car culture, but I hate them with a passion. Maybe if we invested in transit and pedestrian friendly cities, we could then burn strip malls to the ground.
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When I got a job at the airport, I reluctantly had to buy a car and could no longer use the train to get to work. My commute involved driving up a large, four lane road that was lined on both sides with endless strip malls. I found it profoundly ugly and depressing, to the point where it had a noticeable affect on my mood each day. I suppose that strip malls may be something that just comes hand-in-hand with car culture, but I hate them with a passion. Maybe if we invested in transit and pedestrian friendly cities, we could then burn strip malls to the ground.
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Juan
Not everything wrong with the strip malls. They architecture its ugly as shit, the worst face of the modernism. But, otherwise, they reflect the prosperity of USA middle class. The problem here, is ineficient in terms of land use and taxes. Charles Marohn of Strong Towns, its talking abaout this issue that impact not only USA, but all America, including my homeland: Mexico. So. its a step for a raising middle class, but we need to go beyond, in order to re-discover the prosperity that comes with the traditional neighborhood.
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Not everything wrong with the strip malls. They architecture its ugly as shit, the worst face of the modernism. But, otherwise, they reflect the prosperity of USA middle class. The problem here, is ineficient in terms of land use and taxes. Charles Marohn of Strong Towns, its talking abaout this issue that impact not only USA, but all America, including my homeland: Mexico. So. its a step for a raising middle class, but we need to go beyond, in order to re-discover the prosperity that comes with the traditional neighborhood.
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Matt
Great video! Could you do a series on bike lanes? It s of course connected to everything you talk about, and if I recall correctly, you address them, but I d love to hear your POV on them in America. Is a robust bike lane infrastructure even possible in cities like LA? How can we get public opinion to demand more lanes across the country? Why does it currently feel like such a huge burden for cities ( we will TEST 1 half block, temporary lane) in the US, when it s getting PR left and right in London, Paris, bogota, etc?
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Great video! Could you do a series on bike lanes? It s of course connected to everything you talk about, and if I recall correctly, you address them, but I d love to hear your POV on them in America. Is a robust bike lane infrastructure even possible in cities like LA? How can we get public opinion to demand more lanes across the country? Why does it currently feel like such a huge burden for cities ( we will TEST 1 half block, temporary lane) in the US, when it s getting PR left and right in London, Paris, bogota, etc?
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Trilingual
i'm obviously not a patreon, (nive video btw) but you are one of the people i look up to as i want to be a town planner when i grow up, whenever i tell people that, i always get strange looks or a TIN planner? lol. so anyway i was just wondering if there are any negatives to being a town planner, ive heard it can be political etc. but other than that i havent heard a whole lot different. Also, any similar jobs that you could do? any people that you work with who do one of these jobs?
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i'm obviously not a patreon, (nive video btw) but you are one of the people i look up to as i want to be a town planner when i grow up, whenever i tell people that, i always get strange looks or a TIN planner? lol. so anyway i was just wondering if there are any negatives to being a town planner, ive heard it can be political etc. but other than that i havent heard a whole lot different. Also, any similar jobs that you could do? any people that you work with who do one of these jobs?
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Kizyr
As an aside, the Beanetics coffee shop in one of the vid's opening images has some of the best coffee/beans you can find in the area, and definitely not what you'd expect wedged in the middle of a strip mall.
Anyway, still really appreciate this, and that you don't land on any easy strip malls = bad theme. I figured they were a logical outgrowth of suburbs and cars; this was illuminating as to how.
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As an aside, the Beanetics coffee shop in one of the vid's opening images has some of the best coffee/beans you can find in the area, and definitely not what you'd expect wedged in the middle of a strip mall.
Anyway, still really appreciate this, and that you don't land on any easy strip malls = bad theme. I figured they were a logical outgrowth of suburbs and cars; this was illuminating as to how.
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Nicol s
A lot of these got built in Santiago, Chile between 2000-2010. I never really understood why since they're placed in small, walkable residential zones where car traffic is pretty low. They have 2 floors of single-floor stores though, so they at least got right the fact that people walking are more likely to bother using the stairs.
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A lot of these got built in Santiago, Chile between 2000-2010. I never really understood why since they're placed in small, walkable residential zones where car traffic is pretty low. They have 2 floors of single-floor stores though, so they at least got right the fact that people walking are more likely to bother using the stairs.
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Michael
I was surprised you didn t discuss how parking minimums impacted the design of strip malls. In most areas, adding a 2nd story would require 2x the number of parking spaces for zoning minimums. This is why lots of American stores are only 1 story, not as much because we don t like stairs. (That s what elevators are for)
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I was surprised you didn t discuss how parking minimums impacted the design of strip malls. In most areas, adding a 2nd story would require 2x the number of parking spaces for zoning minimums. This is why lots of American stores are only 1 story, not as much because we don t like stairs. (That s what elevators are for)
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NFSMAN50
strip malls are tacky, i see soo many abandoned strip malls, with tennants failing. There's always an ethnic restaurant with amazing food though, good african, carribean, Middle Eastern, Indian, Asian, and Mexican, Cuban, Puerto Rican food can be found in these strip malls, so thats a plus.
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strip malls are tacky, i see soo many abandoned strip malls, with tennants failing. There's always an ethnic restaurant with amazing food though, good african, carribean, Middle Eastern, Indian, Asian, and Mexican, Cuban, Puerto Rican food can be found in these strip malls, so thats a plus.
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