EDMONTON — They’re everywhere — block-long, single-storey lengths of small businesses, anchored by a convenience store.
An asphalt apron, mostly empty, spreads out in front. In the back, an alley hosts dustbins and dubious dealings.
They are strip malls. They are one of the defining features of suburbia. And, according to one university professor, they are on their way out.
“There are far too many of them that are underutilized, that are not successful economically,” says Rob Shields from the University of Alberta’s City-Region Studies Centre. “They need to be reinvented.
“We don’t think it’s a matter of sidewalks and signage. We’re looking at the relationship between these strip malls and their neighbourhoods.”
Architects, designers, sociologists and artists have signed on to help. The results are in a show that will travel across the country to display the 20 best ideas from 111 entries from around the world on how the suburban strip mall can go from an in-and-out pit stop to a neighbourhood centre.
“The whole basis of the strip mall is fine if you want to keep using your car forever, but they’re not great for creating social spaces,” says Merle Patchett, who curated the show. “How do you make these more community-oriented buildings?”
More green space, maybe. Many of the designs suggest converting part of the ubiquitous parking lots into community gardens, everything from modest structures involving rudimentary greenhouses and milk cartons to elaborate aerial urban farms suspended by cables and watered by storm sewers.
Retail variety might help. One design suggests that instead of traditional stores, large trucks with complete shops in the back could visit on a regular schedule and pull up to sheltered platforms to let shoppers browse between outlets. Schedules could be distributed through social media.
Mobile stores could adjust a mall’s retail mix throughout the day, with breakfast outlets shifting to evening gathering spots.
Good food and places to eat it were common themes.