Shopping malls arise to the extent that there is a certain devaluation of the city centers and a loss of functions of the places that in other times summoned citizens to go there: the public square, the big theaters and the governmental offices that move towards places which are supposed to be more convenient. We neglect the street so much that the simulation of the street triumphs, says architect Maurix Suárez, an expert on the subject.

A shopping mall is a scenography, and creates an illusion of citizen interaction that does not really exist. It is the opposite of a neighborhood, a place that in healthy societies fosters encounter and solidarity. A shopping mall gives status. People go there not only to see and be seen, but to exhibit what rampant capitalism demands: capacity to buy. A mall is a private place that pretends to be public, where we stop being citizens to be potential customers. It is sad to see how this leisure time culture that makes families to prefer these places that sell the idea that consuming is the way to be happy, instead of going to a park or a street that bustles with its complex realities.