The Not-So-Naked New Public Square
Rodney Clapp
October 1, 1996
Uncivil as the times may be, America is not without a public square, a place where its citizens may meet, mingle, and sometimes attempt to sort out their differences. It's just that America has a new public square.
You don't have to tell me that downtowns are eroded. In my suburb, downtown stores regularly struggle for their lives. Not a year passes without another stalwart draining and dwindling out of business. The old courthouse is vacated, its vital public activities transferred to a new building on the outskirts of town. Our new courthouse stands just down the road from a local version of the new public square: a shopping mall.
Shopping malls have quite consciously been built and presented as public squares, commons, or downtowns. Many reflect this intention in their names, such as (to cite a few I have known) Yorktown, Crossroads Mall, Stratford Square, and Town Square. Mall architecture incorporates-albeit in an artificial, thermostatically regulated fashion-many of the fixtures of older downtown areas. Walkways are laid out in squares and rectangles, urging circuitous wandering. Fountains shoot. Trees and lesser greenery soften and enliven the scene. Benches invite rest, lingering, and the possibility of conversation. Amphitheaters await performances and audiences.
In addition, malls no longer simply sell products in myriad stores. They have expanded to include chapels, dentists, optometrists, medical clinics, counseling centers, ice rinks, miniature golf courses, food courts, childcare, banking services, postal services, and branch offices of local, state, and federal governments. Some (such as the famous Mall of America, which sports its own zip code) include full-scale amusement parks. Others (such as Canada's West ...
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