This episode explores the rise and fall of the American shopping mall, interwoven with the story of a group of artists who secretly built and lived in an apartment within a Providence, Rhode Island mall for several years. Against the backdrop of the mall's construction in the 1990s, artist Michael Townsend noticed a peculiar, unused space and later, when his artist community was displaced by developers, he and his friends decided to reclaim a piece of the mall. More significantly, their initial plan to occupy the mall for a week evolved into creating a fully furnished secret apartment, highlighting their creative response to displacement and the mall's role as a public space. For instance, they seamlessly integrated their apartment into the mall's daily rhythm, bringing in furniture in broad daylight and blending in with shoppers. However, their secret was eventually discovered, leading to legal trouble, but ultimately, a surprisingly lenient outcome. The episode then pivots to a broader discussion with Alexandra Lange, author of "Meet Me by the Fountain," analyzing the architectural and social history of malls, their role in suburban development, and their current decline. The discussion covers the evolution of mall design, the legal battles over free speech within malls, and the challenges and opportunities presented by the repurposing of abandoned malls. What this means for the future of malls is a shift towards adaptive reuse, with examples like the transformation of a defunct mall into an Austin Community College campus, suggesting that while the traditional mall model is fading, these large spaces can be repurposed to serve new community needs.
