Explorations in Mall (Re)Design: A Roundtable

25 March 2022

Jordan LeBel, of the Department of Marketing convened a roundtable on mall design. He invited three experts, two US-based consultants and one Montreal-based architect to share their reflections on the reinvention of the mall in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and engage in a discussion with the members of the Explorations in Sensory Design (ESD) research team.

Jordan assembled a series of readings for us to peruse in preparation for the roundtable. One of the reports in the readings that piqued our interest was the following:

The 2021 Retail Holiday Survey, by the [JLL] company, found that 85 per cent of shoppers say they are going to return to shopping centres this holiday season and they’re going to be spending more time and more money in those malls.

“This is a great news story. I think it means that people want to go out and be in that environment and not sit in their pajamas and shop online,” said Tim Sanderson, Executive Vice-President, Retail, for JLL.

“I think people have done a lot of that going on two years now and I think it gets a little tired. I do believe that we’re social creatures and we want to get out and we want to touch and feel product and we want to see other people”.

“When you walk through a shopping centre and you see lots of people in a great mood – it’s kind of hard to see people smiling, we’re all wearing masks – but when they’re carrying bags and they’re enjoying themselves, everybody gets caught up with that.”

Evidently, we are entering a period when there will be a renaissance of the senses and sociality now that the scourge of the pandemic, which took such an awful toll on the life of the proximity senses and life itself, is abating.

The roundtable opened with brief presentations by the three experts. In his presentation, one of the consultants observed that in recent decades food courts have emerged as important anchors or attractants for malls. Food is “democratic,” he said, and therefore a key driver or lure for diverse demographics. The role of the food halls in mobilizing foot traffic is only likely to increase going forward now that another major anchor – the cineplex theatre – has been displaced due to the rise in streaming services (e.g. Netflix). His firm has assembled a meta data bank on alimentation services to enable developers and investors to make informed decisions.

The second consultant observed that most contemporary malls present a drastically diminished version of the vision of “the father of the mall,” Victor Gruen. Gruen designed the first outdoor pedestrian mall and promoted the mixed-use shopping centre – that is, centres in the interests of community, not just commerce. When, towards the end of his life, he was asked his opinion regarding what malls had become, he disowned his brainchild. Fortunately, and due to necessity, mixed-use has since made a significant comeback as a design strategy.

The architect reported on some of the design principles that had informed her firm’s redesign of the Eaton Centre, a shopping complex located in the heart of downtown Montreal (on which more below).

It emerged from the discussion that efficiency and enhancement are the watchwords of good mall design. Efficiency in the provision of the goods shoppers desire has been challenged by the disruptions to the supply chain caused by the pandemic. Furthermore, shoppers have grown accustomed to shopping online from the comfort (and safety) of their homes and having their purchases delivered to their door. Indeed, the rise of e-commerce has resulted in a sharp decline in foot traffic at the mall.

Digitization provides part of the solution: for example, by making it possible for shoppers to comparison shop online and ascertain the availability of merchandise. But how to get consumers to change out of their pajamas and displace themselves to the mall remains a stumbling block. Digitization is more of a downer than a catalyst. This is where the other watchword, enhancement, comes in: the enhancement of sociality and the enhancement of the sense appeal of the retail establishment.

The main issue facing most suburban malls is that they were built with a single purpose in mind – namely, shopping, and with no regard for the genius loci, or “sense of place.” Indeed, if anything, they are “nonplaces.” Transforming the shopping centre into a mixed-use centre is a major part of the solution – that is, as a site for education (the mall as classroom); a site for professional services (the mall as health and/or dental centre); an office site (or place of work as well as leisure); and, above all, the mall as entertainment venue (with live performances).  

The downtown mall is better positioned to evince a sense of place because of the historicity of its location and the fact that it is already integrated into pedestrian and transport circuits. Indeed, Montreal is famous for its vast “underground city.” The city centre mall may even incarnate the spirit of place, literally, as in the case of Montreal’s Les Promenades de la Cathédrale which is built directly under the Anglican cathedral, and mirrors the house of worship in certain aspects of its architecture.

The topic of “data” came up repeatedly. It was observed that the way retailers (and investors) see things, every square metre of mall space has a dollar value. Unoccupied store space is a burden: every metre should be leased. In the case of a food court, some space will have to be given over to seating, but ideally there will be a high turnover. What of common spaces, though – that is, places to just sit and relax, or linger? How are these spaces to be quantified? How can their value be measured?

It was suggested that part of the problem with the prevailing “data-driven” mindset is precisely that it is keyed exclusively to the quantitative. It ignores the qualitative dimensions of space. Foot traffic, occupancy ratios, sales figures - these dimensions are easily measured, but the experience or enjoyment of a space is not. This is because enjoyment depends on atmosphere. Atmosphere is not objectifiable and therefore nonquantifiable. According to Gernot Böhme in The Aesthetics of Atmospheres  (2017), atmospheres are like a haze: they are “indeterminate … as regards their ontological status” in that “we are not sure whether we should attribute them to the objects or environments from which they proceed or to the subjects who experience them.” This is because atmospheres are actually compounded of both, according to Böhme: they are a product of the “co-presence” of subject and object. Specifically, atmospheres are “the mediums or the elements through which perception, and hence human action and understanding, takes place.”

Of course, such qualitative research methods as the interview, the questionnaire or the focus group can provide some indication of enjoyment, but they pale in comparison with the method of sensory ethnography, which is the modus operandi of the ESD research team. According to François Laplantine in The Life of the Senses: Introduction to a Modal Anthropology (2015): “the experience of [ethnographic] fieldwork is an experience of sharing in the sensible [le partage du sensible]. We observe, we listen, we speak with others, we partake of their cuisine, we try to feel along with them what they experience.” This “sense-based” orientation is what makes the method of sensory ethnography so apposite to the investigation of atmospheres and ambiances. Ethnographers practice what has been called “deep hanging out” in order to tap into “the native point of view,” or, in the instant case, the inner life and bodily comportment of shoppers, which may not always agree with what the latter expressly say. Our point is that counting (i.e. the quantitative approach) needs to be augmented by accounting, not in the financial sense but in the narrative sense – that is, the stories people tell about their shopping experience, and how they appropriate the space of the mall for their own ends: hanging out, arranging rendez-vous with friends, chatting. Sensory ethnographers are ideally positioned to investigate how shoppers make sense of their experience, and this can be a source of many insights.

At one point in the discussion our attention was directed to curb-side pick up as one of the concessions retailers had had to make to the pandemic. An ESD team member wryly observed that “curbs are for dogs” (alluding to the way dogs are disciplined to “heel” – and if not, will be “curbed” – as well as the place where dogs do their business), and went on to suggest that convenience should not be the sole consideration : if curb-side pick-up is a “touch-point” for consumers, but all they do is drive through, then this is a missed opportunity. Why not transform the curb-side into a dog park, since this would attract not only dogs but their human companion? Dog parks are well known for enhancing the sociality of dogs and humans alike, and dogs are always enthusiastic for outings (unlike some humans). But what would a canine-friendly environment look like? What sort of affordances would it offer? Water features, obviously. But what else? Smell-points, perhaps? To find out, it would be necessary to engage in multispecies ethnography, a fast developing area of anthropological research.

One of the consultants noted that as the number of human children declines, there has been an up-tick in the number of “furry children” (i.e. dogs and cats as family members) Clearly, there is potential here. While on the topic of children, it was observed by our architect that municipal regulations can pose a challenge. For example, children are not allowed in bars in North America, although they are allowed in pubs in the UK. This observation precipitated a further discussion regarding: How “child-friendly” is the mall, in point of fact? Of course, some retail establishments such as IKEA, have ballrooms for kids, but these “attractions” mainly serve as drop-off points, or carceral spaces. It was proposed that mall designers should take their cue from recent advances in sensory museology. Museum directors have found that offering more hands-on and interactive displays are a strong attractant for children – and entrain their caretakers as well. However, the tactility of the mall is seriously underappreciated, and underdeveloped, unlike more and more contemporary museums (with their hands-on features an interactive displays).

The latter observation in turn sparked a discussion of the materiality of the mall: if so-called brick-and-mortar establishments are losing customers due to the greater convenience of e-shopping and having things delivered, then why not introduce other materials, such as wood or sand, which have a different sense-appeal, into the mall’s construction? As for enhancing sociality, all of the experts were agreed that staging events, from live-music performances to the 5-à-7, would help transform touch-points into social- or gathering-points.

Our architect observed that light is a material (an immaterial material) that her firm enlisted in its redesign of the Eaton Centre. Many malls tend to be claustrophobic due to their low ceilings; and, even when the ceilings are high, the only things that meets the eye are steel girders, ventilation ducts and rows of fluorescent lights, with their uniform glare. “Let there be light!” she said, meaning: transform closed ceilings into glass-ceilings that let in the sun (the renovated Eaton Centre being a case in point). At the same time, she said, it is important to create more intimate spaces – spaces with variegated light, and variegated temperatures (or thermal delight). Incorporating more alcoves and nooks into the design of the mall would help turn it from a nonplace into some place. Forget muzak, forget fast food, it was further proposed: think artisanal eateries and breweries, think live music performed by local musicians and sound artists.

Our discussion ranged over numerous other topics, and all of the ESD team members found the issues raised by the experts to be illuminating. To think outside the big box along the lines they proposed was even exhilarating. Clearly, sensory ethnography has a vital role to play in reconceptualizing and introducing suggestions for revamping mall design. The following are three of the main takeaways from our roundtable discussion:

• Alongside amassing quantitative data, more attention should be paid to gathering sense-data by using the methodology of participant sensation (i.e., sensory ethnography) and “feeling along with” shoppers what they experience;

• If “demography is destiny,” as we heard repeatedly, then more attention should be paid to social and cultural diversity and reshaping the mall to accommodate other demographics, including children and companion animals;

• The materiality – and, in particular, the tactility – of the mall is underappreciated. Diversifying materials beyond just brick and mortar and artificial finishes would have the effect of diversifying ambiances. Let the mall become a sensory gymnasium with multiple sensory “touch-points” (i.e. variegated surfaces) and differential lighting, scents and savours (in place of uniform light levels, uniform air-conditioned air, and uniform temperature). Malls should not be concerned solely with “meeting the needs” of today’s consumers: they need to e engage their senses, too.