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Abstract

The social, cultural, civic, and economic impact of shopping malls has been heavily debated in comparison to the traditional town centers and high streets they often undermined and superseded. The study aims to assess how Singapore’s activity centers, including its shopping malls, have responded spatially and commercially to its diverse and evolving population. The research uses a mixed-methods approach of observational analysis, secondary data, and primary data scraped from websites. The research indicates that old-generation precincts in satellite towns have a greater number and diversity of stores and business ownership and, as a result, are more responsive to vernacular pluralism than new-generation shopping malls. Precincts also provide space for diverse optional, social, and stationary activities. In the downtown area, strata malls are the exception to standard shopping mall formulas. Many have developed an endogenous dynamic that has seen many of them evolve into eclectic and specialized spaces.

Keywords

activity centers shopping malls Singapore ethnoscapes subcultures

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