Cornerstones of retail development

I am often described by those who know me as being a little pedantic, and some might even go as far to say that my tendencies towards tidiness and orderliness are somewhat disturbing.

My retort of 'there is a place for everything... etc', is a little 'grandmotherly', and smacks of someone with too much time on their hands. However, it has to be said that I usually can't stop myself from straightening hangers or aligning cutlery.

Added to this is another of my traits which my colleagues at work are a little more used to seeing, and that is for making lists. There are usually a few on the go at any one time, and maybe even one or two that cross-reference with each other, but they help me stabilise my workload and as a result this tends to justify their existence in the office.

This love of list-making also means that I find the reading of lists also quite compelling and as a result I am a sucker for the 'things to do before you're 30' style lists in newspapers and magazines, and typically read them with added gusto. Although that particular list may be of little use to me now (40 would be more applicable), I was reading one the other day that I found particularly interesting, until I got to the second to last bullet point.

This list was in located towards the back of a modern travelogue style magazine and had a heading along the lines of 'Things that should never happen in your lifetime'. Now whilst some points were amusing, and others had more geo or socio-political resonance, the point that particularly struck me was that of 'the construction of any more shopping malls'

I couldn't quite understand the point of such a comment and even now I haven't really been able to conclusively decide what the author was really driving at.

From an aesthetic standpoint I can understand that architects have a pretty hard job in trying to make malls as easy on the eye as possible, and even when they fail I don't see this as reason enough to banish malls from the landscape. Additionally I know that over the years, malls have often undergone some reasonably harsh criticism with regard to the long-term issues and problems that they cause town planners. I am also aware of some of the adverse effects that they can have on community infrastructure and the population migration that can be associated with their development.

However, I believe that most of these issues could have been avoided with some more subtle design i.e. higher priorities when considering the surrounding environment, as well as more considered urban planning. As the result these issues aren't simply the result of the mall being built, but more of a lack of professionalism from town councils, where existing issues have simply been exacerbated by the mall's development.

When built with the appropriate levels of social sensitivity and the correct mix of desired retail brands for the surrounding area, malls can offer communities a lifeline both commercially and socially. Additionally (and this is certainly true in the Middle East) they are becoming much more than simply the ubiquitous shopping mall. Each new mall development brings with it a sense of newness, achievement and a 'wow' factor that is exacerbated often by a leisure/entertainment facility.

Malls are the currently the cornerstone of our retail markets and although their development will, of course, slow down in the coming years, we would be considerably worse off if no more were ever built.

- The writer is Head of GRMC Retail Services, Dubai.