I've seen a city center with hundreds of shops die out because businesses shut or moved to the newly built mall outside the city that has a huuge parking area.
There is no reason to go into the city anymore, people can do all daily shopping and errands at the mall.
It seems like the future, at least in America where land is plentiful, is multi-core metropolitan cities. With smaller cores, not so many silly skyscrapers.
Yes, if what you already have is a car-dependent society and a generally unwelcoming city center, people will do exactly that.
And there will be even more accidents, pollution, traffic jams, stress, further loss of green space and social contact. And together this will cost the society more than making the original city center walkable and convenient to do business in.
> There is no reason to go into the city anymore, people can do all daily shopping and errands at the mall.
Consider this: There is no reason to build a mall anymore, people can do all daily shopping and errands in the CITY.
It's funny how the alternative for having an actual, functional city center is letting it die (or not building it in the first place) and then building an alternative city center called "the mall" where people can socialize, walk around without the fear of being crushed by a 2-ton SUV, window-shop, have a lunch or watch a movie.
I've seen a city center with hundreds of shops die out because businesses shut or moved to the newly built mall outside the city that has a huuge parking area.
There is no reason to go into the city anymore, people can do all daily shopping and errands at the mall.
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