EXPLORATION : THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT

 

The Battle for Retail:  Consumer vs. Robot Shopping Click "place your order."  Swipe your credit card, "sign here."  Both activities provide the same result.  Endless options and the idea of convenience, with regards to saving time, drive consumers to make certain decisions. Large retailers such as Wal-Mart and Amazon built their business model around these two shopping pillars.  Wal-Mart has three types of access.  In-person shopping was the original retail experience when Sam Walton opened its first retail box store in Rogers, Arkansas, in 1962.  Nearly forty years later, in 2002, walmart.com launched.  In 2013, grocery pick-up piloted in Denver, Colorado.  Each process addressed the consumer's increased need for convenience through the use of technology.  In the most general terms, artificial intelligence is the machine's capacity to complete a human intellectual task.  With the ongoing innovation strides of technology, tradition...

Storytelling is an essential aspect of the written form, just as its counterpart, vocal delivery.  As this paper's title is in the final revisions, a look at the story is ever relevant.  Previous thought has been to look at the human mind how it makes choices and then introduces the reader to the paper's subject: the retail center's decline and potential future.  Subsequently, there is more information on 'choice' than initially planned.  By doing so, however, the subject is mentioned late in the writings.  Therefore, the topic order will adjust so 'retail centers' are at the forefront of the paper. Another area to address is the specificity of a location to assist with the focus of the subject.  Highlighting the NWA Mall as a precedent (not a case study) will guide existing locations' research. Below is the revised outline. An alternative outline focuses on the integration of artificial intelligence into the retail experience.  This approach places th...

Power of Choice: Spatial Convenience in Adaptive Use Development of Retail Centers in Urban Environment A Summary of the Literature The success of online platforms has dramatically impacted the retail experience.  In recent years, in-person retail locations have been forced to rethink their business model to compete with giants like Amazon. Many have not been successful, leaving retail real estate empty. This literature review will examine human behavior's impact on the built environment by exploring the psychology of choice, customer decision-making, convenience appeal, and retail centers' future. Evaluation of such a topic will be helpful concerning post-graduate interests in real estate and development within the hospitality and retail market sector. Psychology of Human Behavior The exploration of human behavior is a critical factor in the success of the built environment. Understanding how individuals make decisions is foundational to the development of the customer...

Narrowing down a topic is key to quality research. A broad scope of information is cumbersome to navigate and easy for the reader to lose interest. It is also daunting for the author.   This research paper, generally speaking, is about human behavior and its impact on the built environment. The research equivalent is this question: “Power of Choice: Spatial convenience in adaptive re-use development of retail centers in urban environments.” To narrow this topic, I need to examine how I intend to address the research. An outline will be an innovative tool to track the data to streamline such a large volume of information and hopefully help narrow the topic. Below is a list of questions, ideations, and supporting papers and articles. Choice Architecture Examining how people, places, and things consciously and subconsciously help people make choices without forcing a particular outcome. Choice Architecture by Richard H. Thaler, Cass R. Sunstein, John P. Balz :: SSRN Psycho...