Monday, February 11, 2008

zoning and target zones

Victor Gruen and Larry Smith’s thorough account of the planning of shopping centers, (specifically site selection), recalls Keller Easterling’s descriptions of spatial products. Proper site and tenants for a future mall is determined by travel distances, purchasing power of regional population, accessibility etc. Gruen considers economists, developers, and architects equally important in the successful establishment of a shopping center.

Zoning is another important factor in the development of the shopping center. Longstreth talks about zoning as a mid nineteenth century development specifically tied to the unsanitary nature of the industrial city. Out of necessity, families left the city to secure a healthy domestic environment separate from the unhealthy workplace of the city center. Another case of segregation at the time was “target market” which dictated the selection of tenants for a mall.

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