Investigating the Socio-Economic Dimensions of Shopping Open Spaces before and after COVID-19 Case Study: Green Plaza Mall, Alexandria, Egypt

Abstract

The study focuses on the spatial configuration of shopping mall design and its effect on social behavior and economics of the project. The design of Urban Open Spaces (UOS) in shopping mall can affect the success or failure of the project. In this paper as part of research project in studying the shopping Urban Open Spaces (UOS) in commercial projects in Alexandria, the study focuses on using observational techniques such as gate counts, static snapshots, and photographing to understand the effect of shopping mall design on frequency use of the space and its effect on the economics of the project. Moreover, space syntax computational techniques such as Visibility Graph Analysis (VGA), agent simulation and isovist points analysis are used to understand the spatial configuration of the studied shopping mall. There were two sides of the problem, the social side of the problem and the financial side of the problem, finding out that when a shopping mall fails to facilitate social gatherings through its central spaces, there would be a drop in financial terms of the project such as higher vacancy rates in commercial spaces and drop in renting rates. The research is focusing on studying this situation in Green plaza shopping mall in Alexandria as a case study before and after COVID pandemic in order to find out the similarities and differences in this pattern and to discuss recommended design criteria for shopping malls in Post-COVID. The results obtained can be used to more understanding of what design decisions affect the success or failure of shopping malls.