Applying biological analogues and thinking of Geoffrey West's studies of Scale in urbanism, this reads as cancerous behavious. Elements of an organism mutating far beyond a format the body can support.
There is something deep in the American DNA about separation and size that permeates all aspects of our society both physically and emotionally. It's fed to us consciously and unconsciously through advertising/marketing and what's even worse is the opposite is demonized despite there being a real demand for smaller, human scaled things (cities, houses, cars, grocery stores etc).
This reminds me of many things, but most prominently / recently it's about how design is so *hierarchical* or *fractal.* I loved the comparison of streets to aisles - they aren't metaphors of each other, they are exactly the same dynamic. The question this prompts for me is "How can we (well, I) become more comfortable being closer to other people, and other people closer to me?" Is more space simply filling a 'temptation' to luxury (eat your vegetables) or are there habits we ought to have that can make these spaces feel safer?
That last bit is important - do people just not like people, or choose to "buy" as much privacy/distance as they can? Are we seeing Americans playing out a specific cultural attitude, or simply doing what humans are wired to do when we're affluent enough to do it? This is like the ur-question for urbanists, I think.
Economists might think about this in terms of marginal utility of space. That for customers and stock people is higher than that for product.
Probably more to the point is the way imitation store fronts and/or open air markets are used to signify different departments within the new big stores. You’ve got a couple of nice photos of that.
Here in Central NJ the small supermarket seems to be exemplified by ethnic markets, South Asian and East Asian, which often occupy smaller spaces in strip malls. This does not preclude enormous ethnic markets like Netcost and Patel Brothers, but I can't think of any standard fare American supermarkets that fit into a small footprint.
Applying biological analogues and thinking of Geoffrey West's studies of Scale in urbanism, this reads as cancerous behavious. Elements of an organism mutating far beyond a format the body can support.
Whoa/huh
There is something deep in the American DNA about separation and size that permeates all aspects of our society both physically and emotionally. It's fed to us consciously and unconsciously through advertising/marketing and what's even worse is the opposite is demonized despite there being a real demand for smaller, human scaled things (cities, houses, cars, grocery stores etc).
This reminds me of many things, but most prominently / recently it's about how design is so *hierarchical* or *fractal.* I loved the comparison of streets to aisles - they aren't metaphors of each other, they are exactly the same dynamic. The question this prompts for me is "How can we (well, I) become more comfortable being closer to other people, and other people closer to me?" Is more space simply filling a 'temptation' to luxury (eat your vegetables) or are there habits we ought to have that can make these spaces feel safer?
That last bit is important - do people just not like people, or choose to "buy" as much privacy/distance as they can? Are we seeing Americans playing out a specific cultural attitude, or simply doing what humans are wired to do when we're affluent enough to do it? This is like the ur-question for urbanists, I think.
Two things:
Economists might think about this in terms of marginal utility of space. That for customers and stock people is higher than that for product.
Probably more to the point is the way imitation store fronts and/or open air markets are used to signify different departments within the new big stores. You’ve got a couple of nice photos of that.
Here in Central NJ the small supermarket seems to be exemplified by ethnic markets, South Asian and East Asian, which often occupy smaller spaces in strip malls. This does not preclude enormous ethnic markets like Netcost and Patel Brothers, but I can't think of any standard fare American supermarkets that fit into a small footprint.
Wider aisles are also more accessible for people using mobility devices (walkers, wheelchairs, scooters).