Malls are thriving across Asia, and nowhere more so than in Hong Kong, where online shopping has been slow to gain a foothold. How did this come to be? According to one architect, it comes down to two things: high urban density and good public transit.
Many of the artworks displayed throughout the mall are site-specific commissions.
This flies in the face of retail trends in North America, where a so-called"retail apocalypse" has seen once-thriving malls empty out as online shopping booms. Some have been converted into office complexes or mega-churches, but many others have simply been abandoned, stripped of their brand names and left to rot on the side of suburban highways. A 2017 report by Credit Suisse projects that, within five years, up to 25 percent of America's 1,211 malls will close down.
How did this come to be? According to Stefan Al, a New York-based architect and the author of"Mall City: Hong Kong's Dreamworlds of Consumption," it comes down to two things: high urban density and good public transit."The key aspect is really the creation of the MTR -- the transit authority that was also a real estate developer," he said in a phone interview."That's what made Hong Kong a city of malls.
Hong Kong's first mall, Ocean Terminal, was inspired by its American counterparts, but it soon followed a different path -- one more attuned to Gruen's original vision. Opened in 1966 on the site of a commercial wharf, the mall proved popular with Hong Kong's burgeoning middle-class, who enjoyed its sleek air-conditioned corridors. There were grocery stores, cinemas, novelty shops, teahouses and even nightclubs.
Among the developers inspired by Ocean Terminal was the MTR, short for Mass Transit Railway, which, in addition to operating subway, light rail and bus services, is a major player in property development. In other words, the MTR isn't only providing transport for the city. By spearheading commercial and residential development around its stations, the company gives people more reason to use it.One example is Kowloon station, opened in 2000, which sits beneath a"city-within-a-city," including a shopping mall, apartment towers home to around 30,000 people, several hotels and the 118-story International Commerce Centre, Hong Kong's tallest skyscraper.
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