Goss argues that developers and designers of the built environment, particularly of shopping centers and malls, use the power of place and an understanding of structural arrangement of space to increase consumption of retail profits. Shopping centers are separated from the city center shopping area by distance and/or design. For many these establishments are the new heart and place of public and social life. In his article The "Magic of the Mall": An Analysis of Form, Function, and Meaning in the Contemporary Retail Built Environment, Goss further argues that the regulation of spaces within the mall creates a rather that a “community” atmosphere is “public.” The main argument of this article is that developers create the illusion of doing more than just shopping when they design malls and shopping centers. Developers and designers mask the building's identity while mediating materialist relations of mass consumption. Goss focuses on five areas in his article. This first area looks at the shopping center in a cultural context and the connection between ...