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

  • kristina [she/her]
    ·
    edit-2
    3 years ago

    i saw one building in china where they had a mall that looked almost exactly like it does in the usa but they also had residential buildings on top of the mall and around it. and there were many places like this supposedly in the city

    like fuck imagine if you could just take an elevator and a short walk to get to the grocery store and buy some clothes or go out to eat or some shit. no cars needed, just people living their lives

    • EmmaGoldman [she/her, comrade/them]
      ·
      3 years ago

      When I was a kid I wanted to live in an arcology. One really big building that I knew every inch of, could hang out in any part of as it's all home, and had every aspect and necessary part of life contained within it. Grow food, live, work, eat, and relax in one really big communal space.

      When I got older I realized I have been agoraphobic my entire life and just wanted to live in a place where all of the things I needed to access in order to exist were actually available to me without having to exit my safe zone.

      • kristina [she/her]
        ·
        edit-2
        3 years ago

        for me i just absolutely hate cars. im afraid ill kill someone or be killed. one time i lost consciousness and kinda blipped out of existence for 10 seconds due to dissociation / ptsd. ended up hitting some farmer's fence. luckily when i dissociated i took my foot off the pedal so car was fine. went to the guys house knocked on the door and gave him a heads up and paid for repairs. wasnt even really expensive it was like 200 bucks

        im basically really afraid to drive as a result because what if i was at an intersection or some shit when that happened? and ive done everything i can to minimize the risk (dont drive tired as that weakens my minds defenses vs ptsd, drink caffeine, have some music playing with a good bass beat, and talk to myself some). i try wherever possible to get remote jobs and stuff just because what if i have an off day and im afraid to drive, you know? cant ask everyone to ferry me around all the time, thats expensive or a tax on other peoples time

        like if everyone was on bikes or something id be chill and ok with that cause everything is lower risk

        • axont [she/her, comrade/them]
          hexagon
          ·
          3 years ago

          Yeah I hate cars too and I've had similar experiences. I've been overworked and stressed to the point of falling asleep while driving, or having severe panic attacks. I also have some kind of trauma regarding car maintenance, I'm always afraid my car is going to blow up or break down and I'll never financially recover. My father was always screaming at me to do daily maintenance and I couldn't handle the pressure.

          I only drive to get to my job now.

        • EmmaGoldman [she/her, comrade/them]
          ·
          3 years ago

          Yeah, I get that. I used to be the type of person who would gleefully jump at the opportunity to take a transcontinental road trip by myself. Just genuinely enjoyed driving country roads and low volume interstates. It's been years since I've even been in a car at this point, and I don't think I'd ever want to drive again. Maybe off-road rally I suppose.