Choice & Convenience

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 interested in studying the psychology of choice to convenience.

There are many categories for convenience. A simple search with Merriam-Webster states it's something conducive to comfort or ease. As a designer, the more I look into convenience, the more I am interested in the idea of convenience in the context of space. Spatial convenience measures the amount of time and effort the consumer dedicates to a given task. The planning of space, adjacencies, types of programs, site size, etc., play an essential part in mixed-use planning.

Mixed-use development is a combination of residential and non-residential buildings planned and developed within any given area, usually responding to its environment. The size and scale of the development vary in size and program. It could be one building or more extensive than a city block. Studies suggest that today's shoppers are looking for a next-generation retail experience that brings to mind more of an authentic community experience than past generations (Fiala, 2005).

Questions to explore:

1. How does the power of choice affect spatial convenience?
2. In what way does spatial convenience benefit mixed-use development?
3. How does re-branding influence abandoned retail centers as they transform to mixed-use developments?

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.

Research Question Revision 3: (Week 6)

Power of Choice: Spatial convenience benefits in mixed-use development

Potential Literature Reviews and Articles

Choice

Thaler, Richard H. and Sunstein, Cass R. and Balz, John P., Choice Architecture (December 10, 2014). The Behavioral Foundations of Public Policy, Ch. 25, Eldar Shafir, ed. (2012)., Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2536504 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2536504

Thomas, M.D. Reapplying behavioral symmetry: public choice and choice architecture. Public Choice 180, 11–25 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11127-018-0537-1

Spatial Convenience

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-08-2013-0153

Eaton, B. C., & Tweedle, J. (2012). A hotelling style model of spatial competition for a convenience good. The Annals of Regional Science, 49(2), 447-469. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00168-011-0458-0