I'm just here to vent, mostly about something aesthetic. I hate how commercial real estate is used in the US. I hate big box chain stores surrounded by parking lots the size of a small town. Malls are bad enough, but here's like a worse version of a Mall with even more parking and without even the courtesy of interior decor.
For those of y'all outside the US, imagine a giant parking lot and then like 10 stores all glued together and 1 giant one, usually something like a Best Buy or Kohls or whatever.
They're always the same thing too. I've been to 30 different states and they're everywhere. They're typically a very bland beige color. Maybe another color if you're lucky. They're ugly as hell. They're cluttered together randomly to ensure maximum parking space. They always look terrible and no regard is put into presentation at all. They're just the core features of American excess boiled down.
Drive car here, buy treats, leave.
They're such a waste of space and the only reason they exist is because malls were too slow at generating profit because too much walking is involved. I'm so mad at driving past a zillion of these no matter where in the country I go. I could be in Florida, California, South Carolina, Montana, doesn't matter. Same 10 things over and over. Kohls, Ross, Subway sammiches, gamestop, nail salon, Lens crafters, dentists (??), fucking emergency rooms sometimes (???). Yes let's put the emergency room right next to the Dick's Sporting Goods please
Can we please have architecture that either looks nice or performs better functions than just huge parking lots with consumer nonsense attached
Does anyone like these things
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I've tried explaining my aesthetic distaste for American commercial areas to everyday folk and the response is I usually come across as a lunatic. No one seems to share my displeasure, the endless strip malls on the sides of highways are just seen as natural.
America is designed to make us feel insane lol
I resent traveling in part for this reason. Everywhere is just a stale copy of everywhere else. Then again, I'm not sure if it would've been better before, I guess every town/city would've had the same sorts of businesses. Though at least they wouldn't be literally identical.
The car and its impact on society has been an unmitigated disaster.
Try going somewhere that's had less American influence and money over the past 50 years. I've been to Vietnam before and it's cool as hell.