It is too cursed to not post about it
this post was submitted on 19 Jul 2024
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Victor Gruen is widely considered the inventory of the modern shopping mall. He was an Austrian Jew who immigrated to the US when the Nazi's annexed Austria.
I can't find much specific on his political views, but I've seen him described by historians as "far-left" and "socialist".
Shopping was originally a small part of his vision. He wanted to make an indoor, air-conditioned version of European pedestrian areas. Residences, schools, libraries, hospitals, parks, etc. He hated how the mall he envisioned became the shopping mall. He was influenced by Disney Land - trying to make a planned neighborhood that optimized the human experience. In turn, Disney took a lot of influence from him to make EPCOT.
So I don't know that he was a Marxist, but he denounced the capitalist hellscape that his malls eventually became.
How painfully ironic
Coincidentally, there are malls in Asia that actually meet some of those requirements. Big indoor malls with residential condos attached to them, a park on the mall rooftop, clinics and health services inside the mall, hardware store, bookstore where you can read inside, gym, etc.; plus the standard mall stuff (cinema, restaurants, spa, etc.)