BOOK BUILDING
Suburbs had their charm even in the past
D. MURALI
A popular view is that inner cities are alive with culture and sophistication, while suburban communities are vacuous and homogenised. “That’s a distorted view,” says A. Alfred Taubman in ‘Threshold Resistance’ ( www.harpercollins.com).
Affinity for a suburban lifestyle is not a new aspiration, he adds. “In fact, archaeologists discovered the following inscription on a clay tablet dating back to 539 BC: ‘Our property seems to me the most beautiful in the world. It is so close to Babylon that we enjoy the advantages of the city, and yet when we come home we are away from all the noise and dust.’”
People migrated to the city’s fringe owing to ‘unsustainable wave of urban population growth,’ the author reasons. “In response, retailers followed to conveniently serve customers in these new communities.”
Opportunities
Taubman, who is the founder of Taubman Centers Inc., a leading real estate developer and operator of regional shopping centres in the U.S., observes in the intro that to succeed you have to look beyond immediate barriers and see opportunities.
“Successful entrepreneurs and builders possess a sort of serial vision that allows them to look past things as they are to see how they could be better, not just different – and hence more valuable. It means looking at a wheat field in a rural area and seeing a massive shopping centre that will serve a large local residential population…” Which is what is currently happening across India, with big players entering the retail scene and scouting around for locations.
Another common notion is that malls – that is, “major enclosed marketplaces with the depth of merchandise selection to pull customers from considerable distances” – are a recent phenomenon.
No, they have been around for centuries, argues the author.
He draws evidence from a book of architectural drawings, ‘Monuments modernes de la Perse’, published by Pascal Coste, a French architect who studied the cities of Persia in the 1800s. “It contains an illustration of a fabric bazaar in Isfahan. The shops, in this case selling-spaces leased to fabric merchants, are arranged around a dramatic domed grand court with a fountain at its centre. Merchandised corridors branch out from the grand court. Daylight streams in through the skylights above.”
Another quote is from ‘an account written by a European traveller in 1784 describing the bazaars of Istanbul’, thus: “Superb buildings, filled with beautiful covered passageways, most of which rest on pillars. They are all well maintained. Each business has its own hall, where the merchandise is presented… visitors come for entertainment as well as business.”
If your travels ever take you to Milan, make a point of visiting Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, the quintessential mall, suggests Taubman. “Opened in the 1800s, this Italian masterpiece incorporates most of the essential elements of great shopping centre design on a grand scale. The mall corridors, which intersect at a domed grand court, serve as busy pedestrian passageways connecting two busy public activity centres – piazzas.”
Tips
The centre is adjacent to the city’s most active commercial and residential districts, and is anchored by a cathedral, continues the description. “Back when Italians attended Mass far more regularly than they do today, the church acted as a ‘people pump’ as potent as any major department store or rail station.”
A chapter titled ‘creating 100 per cent locations’ has important tips for wannabe developers and retailers.
Remember, retail follows residential growth, as Taubman asserts. Because, “People shop where they live, not necessarily where they work.”
Do you know that “studies as far back as those conducted by Leonardo da Vinci tell us that a person feels comfortable walking only about three blocks, or 1,000 feet, from his or her home for discretionary trips”?
Beyond that, one senses a need to return home, says the author. “That’s why walkable, high-volume districts within cities are typically three blocks long.”
Great read.
Feedback to dmurali@
thehindu.co.in
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