CAPSTONE RESEARCH

Abstract:

 Is it financially and socially responsible to demolish America’s dying shopping malls? As the rise of e-commerce accelerates the collapse of the traditional American shopping mall, developers increasingly favor the philosophy of “creative destruction” by replacing these massive concrete boxes, which are shopping malls, with inaccessible digital warehouses. However, viewing these dying structures only through financials ignores the darker issue: the growing public health crisis of social isolation. As a human social requirement, the loss of shared commercial space is not merely an architectural shift, but a fundamental biological threat that actively fractures the urban fabric. This paper examines the economic and social consequences of this decline and questions the true cost of demolition. It challenges communities to rethink these abandoned retail giants before the foundations of public life are lost forever.