essay shopping malls

 Shopping centers today could be called or nicknamed "consumer theaters" and the stage is organized to promote consumption. Although everything we consume is not intended to last forever, since it is planned that way, so that in this way the objects become obsolete, and in this way we can return to consume more. Now, for a long time there have been stores dedicated to everything, there are clothing stores, shoe stores, toy stores, jewelry stores, etc. However, what shopping centers have done is bring all these stores together in one space, thus causing when we need something we go to the mall to get it and since it seems like an amazing place for the amount of things that can be purchased there, well, we stay to consume more things that we probably didn't even need.

Shopping centers have become a space where all people spend most of their time, since in addition to finding everything we need and even what we don't. It is a place that we can appreciate, since these have been built with the purpose of replacing or pretending to be another place, for example, there are mall's that, according to their arrangement, have signs as if you were walking on the street , as well as you can find benches in the middle of what would be the "street" and finally you can find different plants that many of them are synthetic, but all together, they simulate reality.

We believe that shopping centers have made a difference between social classes and all this due to the place where they have to be built. In other words, these large shopping centers need a large space in which to develop, they need to look for a decentralized place since in this way they will be able to find the space they want at a low cost, however, by putting it in a place very close to some and very far for others believe that only a few can access this type of shopping center. However, we also believe that these differences can be eliminated through the coexistence that can be developed within the shopping center since everyone sees each other as equals.

Everything we eat, wear, and what our home looks like are expressions of who we aspire to be. And the way to achieve that identity is by buying these items. Once you as a person create a role model, you don't rest until you have access to that model. In this way the value of an object does not lie in its utility, but rather in its aesthetics. The same object with the same functionality can have a lot of competition since there are several places that will offer you the product where the decorations and adjectives that surround it will vary, and in this way you will be given a wider range to choose from. to the consumer, so that at the moment of making his purchase he feels that the product is unique and personalized.

In the mall, the individual can give himself the "luxury" of acquiring the merchandise he wants, since what the stores do is to facilitate the payment method, so that in this way he is hooked to the store, a clear example that occurs even within our families is when our parents or close relatives buy a piece of furniture in a department store and decide to pay for it in installments, in this way they are forced to return to the store to be able to settle the payment, but returning to the store means a " risk” since the consumer (which in this case is our relative) may have the possibility of acquiring another good, which would generate more debts and could form a vicious circle. 

A mall is built in such a way that if you want to go only to the largest department stores in the mall, you need to walk all over the center to get to them, thus being able to buy unnecessary things. The mall has become the meeting place for all young people, and not because of the need to buy but simply to go for a walk, it is very common today to find groups of young people walking through the mall. Young people are the ones who go to shopping malls the most. Now, when teenagers are there it is almost impossible for them not to stop to see something they liked, be it video games, be it clothes, among other things. Therefore, all those who attend and if the "group" sees it well, they will acquire that merchandise only to feel identified. And the same thing happens when they go as a couple, the man or woman pays attention to what their partner likes so that they can give it as a gift. However, in the shopping center not everything revolves around how we want to see ourselves, but it is also important to see ourselves today and in the same way the social class in which we are.

Inside the shopping center there are various controls where they do not let anyone pass. Although it is said to be a public place, what it seeks is to provide us with an environment of comfort and safety where we can all feel at the same level. Therefore it could not be possible for them to let in a street vendor or a homeless person as this would cause a bad image of the mall. 

In addition, once these people are excluded, there is still a certain separation within the mall since there are certain stores that only the upper class can enter and this is due to the prices that they have, even with the credit they offer to individuals. The middle class cannot aspire to buy in these stores, and therefore they turn to copies that are as similar as possible to the original, which is known as compensatory consumption. More however, there are stores that "everyone" can enter, but these however do not interest the upper class. And this is how another difference is made. Despite this, the difference is not only seen between shops, but also between mall's, since there are some that are intended only for upper social classes, while others are for the middle classes and even one for the lower classes. low, where in each mall there are stores that have affordable prices for each social class. Now returning to the difference between mall's, it is important to mention that these are built far from the center so that in this way it is not available to everyone, these shopping centers are built in the place where the people who are interested are located. seeks to attract and convert her into a consumer of that shopping center.

In the shopping center the extremes of the urban and the spatial references of the city center dissolve. Inside, the disordered and strident noises of the hectic life of the city disappear, the chiaroscuro and the play of lights and shadows of its streets, the contrast between the large buildings and the small ones, the monuments with their beauty and their ugliness, the lights and illuminated signs that fill the upper part of the facades of the buildings, the traffic signs, the written texts and the images that fill the streets (posters, billboards, banners). To the landscape of the center, confused and dense, he opposes a world embellished by the aesthetics of the market. Inside, the urban geography completely disappears, its high walls do not allow its visitors to see the outside, the streets, the avenues or the neighborhoods that surround it. It is a space where the real world does not enter, it is a pure world: pure of miseries, poverty, the deterioration of public spaces, external violence, disappointment and frustration. It is a world governed by order, organization, good manners, discipline, cleanliness and rationality. Nothing inside is mean, ugly, abandoned or suffers from the effect of pollution. It is an "enclave of prosperity", a universe full of signs that only transmit positivity, a life without conflict or a world of dreams.

People live in such a way that they can adapt to society, causing the creation of gaps and triggering isolation, shopping centers prevent the development of creativity with their advertising and everything that it encompasses promotes the homogenization of the consumer. We consider the possibility of a change of perspective, use the space in our favor, stop living on the sidelines and deepen through coexistence and create true connections. A small change will be the first step, we are sure that a space does not define the person but what happens later, where the key piece is not manipulated and lives based on consumption, not being afraid to relate; the decision is in each individual, if society is fragmented it is because as a society that power was given to the social perspective, it is our nature to fit in and we follow influence from abroad because it is easier not to take responsibility for our decisions.

This essay is based on readings by López, L. (1999). Shopping Centers: Spaces that navigate between reality and fiction. Mexico City, Mexico: Our time.

Lulle, T. & Paquette, C. (2007). Large shopping centers and urban planning. A comparative analysis of two Latin American metropolises. Demographic and Urban Studies 0186-7210.

Medina, F. (1998). The shopping center: a "glass bubble"​. Studies on Contemporary Cultures 1405-2210.

ANCA MARIA BOGDAN