Faux-Urban Malls Not So Bad After All?

"As malls get better, more like cities (even if toy cities), I'm beginning to appre­ciate them for what they are: rehearsal spaces for future urbanites."

"There's really nothing wrong with Santana Row. There should be, of course; we've all been bred to hate malls, and what could be more hateful than a mall masquerading as a chic, vaguely European town? Taking advantage of the sun in San Jose (the more or less real place it is situated in), the mall does away with interiority, offering shoppers an artfully paved and fountained plaza, arcaded sidewalks, live music, "street food," and oversize chess in a shaded square-all to differentiate yet another collection of shops from the market. Crate and Bar­rel, Design Within Reach, and the Container Store anchor one end of the neighborhood, luring you with the promise of a design-rich life."

"People like to gather, and not just to shop. For many years I liked to think that it was in search of those extracommercial urban moments that Americans went to Europe in such numbers: a stroll on cobbles, a chance crepe stand or busker, the feel of being in a mass. But there's a predictable feel to those places these days that rivals the formula of the American mall."