EXPLORATION : THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT

Over the last week, I've been thinking about spatial convenience and its importance in property development. Is it more than just having various options nearby for the end-user? It is certainly more in-depth than that. What about the decision making process? What about the mental mapping of choice? Choice Architecture is a term coined by Richard Thaler, Cass Sunstein, and John Balz in 2008 while researching their paper: "Choice Architecture." The authors define choice architecture as the design of different ways to present consumers' choices and its' impact on consumer decision-making (Thaler, Sunstein, Balz, 2008). It helps nudge decision-making without enforcement. But how? We are faced with choices multiple times a day, not to mention choices within choices. It is never-ending. How do we make decisions from the options in front of us? How do external factors integrate, in conscious or sub-conscious, affect our decision-making abilities? I'm inter...

  A method of inquiry is foundational to any research paper. This course focuses on four possible modes to consider: Traditional Written Scholarship  Generate, revise, and answer meaningful questions, build on previous literature, and be accessible to analysis. This method includes: Literature review Hypothesis development Research Data Collection & Analysis Relevance to the Discussion Design Process Investigation Research an issue and question through the design process, using the design as a tactic for inquiry. This method includes: Build on literature reviews and/or design precedent  Accessible to examination through design inquiry Creative, artistic inquiry and questions A report on the inspiration, process, and outcomes of a creative project constructed by the student. This method includes: Procedures and tactics used to carry out the project Description of the fabrication or materials used for project production Disciplinary oriented project Analysis of pro...

  Original Research Question:    The rise and fall of indoor shopping centers. How can the architecture and design field reinvent the in-person hospitality/retail experience as it battles online shopping convenience?  Research Question Revision 1: (Week 4) The rise and fall of indoor shopping centers: RE-development and RE-branding of convenience. Research Question Revision 2: (Week 5) Defining Convenience: How travel, money, time, and space impact the future of retail and mixed-use development. The perception of convenience is directly relative to the activity we wish to complete. How 'convenience' is defined can categorically fall into several approaches. For this research investigation, this paper will focus on one or more of the following categories: time, money, travel, service, and space. In their research " Spatial convenience: Bridging the gap between shopping malls and shopping strips",  Vaughan Reimers and Val Clulow analyzed shopping center spati...

Search Words - Mixed Development, Shopping Centers, Redevelopment, Urban Planning Could California’s Shopping Centers Be a Housing Fix? (2021, January 19).  Bloomberg.com . https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-01-19/how-empty-shopping-centers-could-be-a-housing-fix   Shopping Center Redevelopment Concepts for Dead Malls . (n.d.). Www.useful-Community-Development.org. Retrieved February 2, 2021, from https://www.useful-community-development.org/shopping-center-redevelopment.html ‌ Mall Redevelopment Strategies: Keeping Today’s Malls Competitive | NAIOP . (n.d.). Www.naiop.org. Retrieved February 2, 2021, from https://www.naiop.org/mallredevelopment ‌ hardship, E. M. is a peripatetic urban planner whose primary interests have been environments under extreme, Natural, B., Streetsblog, human-caused H. writing has appeared in, Geography, N., Urbanophile, T., Planetizen, Post, H., blog, T. E. C. M. of his work can be found on his, & Dirt, A. (2018, November ...

Literature Reviews – “Convenience”, "Mixed-Use Development": Search Words - Convenience-oriented consumer typologies, definition of convenience, hospitality convenience, retail convenience, mixed-use development, psychology of convenience   Kamtarin, M. (2012). The Effect of Electronic word of Mouth, Trust and Perceived Values on Behavioral Intention from the Perspective of Consumers. International Journal of Academic Clulow, V., & Reimers, V. (2009). How do consumers define retail centre convenience?: AMJ.  Australasian Marketing Journal, 17 (3), 125-132. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/how-do-consumers-define-retail-centre-convenience/docview/199325043/se-2?accountid=8361 Reimers, V., & Clulow, V. (2014). Spatial convenience: Bridging the gap between shopping malls and shopping strips.  International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, 42 (10), 864-883. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/IJRDM-08-...

Click. Add to your Shopping Cart. I'm excited. Click. Are you ready to checkout? Yes, but let me look over my cart one more time. I'm unsure. Should I get it? Will I like it? Well, if I don't, at least I can return it for free. And it's free shipping now that I'm spending more than $50. So I'll get that other pair of shoes too, why not, right? Click. Order placed. I take a sip of tea and immediately check my email to see if my purchase has shipped. Sound familiar? Of course, it does. It is difficult to escape the attraction of convenience.  Shopping centers face a monumental crisis as its fighting the convenience of online sites like Amazon, whose entire business model is one-stop shopping at the click of a mouse. It is brilliant. That is unless you are a competitor. According to Ellen Dunham-Jones, an architect and professor at Georgia Tech, in the 20th century, the US was very aware of the idea of convenience and built 1,200 enclosed shopping malls. ...