Transitioning the Public Space — The Case of Belgrade Shopping Mall

Abstract

The (shopping) mall is a utopian common space that aims to form new gathering places and bring people together, functioning as a “city within a city” (Gruen & Smith, 1960; Kaliski, 2008). They are becoming new downtowns and are now ubiquitous and frequently visited places (Kowinski, 1985). Contrary to the concept of a mall being considered a non-place (Augè, 1992), it is now often viewed as one of the better-quality forms of public life in a modern city - spaces that have the highest level of attendance, and are able to function as super-places. The emergence of shopping mall is notable after the World War II, differentiating the USA model and the European one. While in the USA the problem of traffic expansion in the use of shopping facilities was solved by placing trade facilities on the outskirts of cities adjacent to transit streets and interchanges, in Europe a controlled separation of heavy traffic was carried out, which allowed the creation of spaces synthesising the pedestrian corridors and shopping areas in the city core. The transition process has had significant consequences in the context of economic, political and social structures in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. A visible aspect of these changes is also seen in retail organization, privatization and the formation of new trade organizations, and the opening of markets to foreign capital and international trading chains. Presenting the examples of one characteristic shopping mall in Belgrade - Rajićeva Shopping Center - distinct by its urban extent and morphology, this paper aims to explore potential urban identity and quality of space increase in the case of newly formed semi-public spaces within open and closed areas of the mall, by analysing the spatio-physical aspect of the mall and its role in the definition of immediate urban surrounding.