Some Question the Social Cost of Mexican Mall Boom Alex Schmidt - Delmarva Public Radio
go to original March 16, 2016

Oasis Coyoacan Shopping Mall in Mexico City (Manu Yokoyama)

The new Oasis shopping center rises out of the leafy, cobble stoned Mexico City neighborhood of Coyoacan. Its sharp architectural lines, decorative pools and modern planters are impressive – so impressive that people stop in just for photos.

Vanya Cruz and her friend posed in front of an artificial waterfall during their visit from the town of Cuernavaca. "The mall is beautiful. It's huge, it's very elegant. I like it a lot," she said.

There’s a boom in construction of shopping centers in developing countries across the globe. The flurry of activity might signal economic health, the wheels of commerce turning as they should. But some see these malls as just one more example of global inequality.

In 2015, 16 malls like this went up around Mexico City, and this year even more are in the works. But not everyone is so enthusiastic. "Every mall that opens, I just feel that we have lost another opportunity to do something different," said Roberto Remes, an activist and urban planning consultant in Mexico City. He believes the malls destroy informal economies, raise rents, create more traffic, and he worries about spaces that heighten inequality.

"People do not realize that this is not a public space," Remes said. "Probably a poor person doesn't think to be here... that's part of the freedom we lose with malls."

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