Shopping Mall influence on the environment?

[J4p13]

Hey guys, I'd like to get your opinions on how you think your local shopping mall influences the environment. Any information or opinions you wish to share would be greatly appreciated.

It is for a geography project I am doing for school at the moment.

Thanx in advance!

[doo_much]

At which stage?

From planning/build or from operational and even decomissioning?

oh, and please fix the spelling....

[Prime]

Shopping malls are about as enviromentally friendly as living PETA members!

They run aircons all day and night and are using huge quantities of electricity for lighting and storage.
They run flourescent lights which emit huge quantities of EMI and which they don't do power factor correction on.
Not to mention the thermal effects of large concrete buildings - urban heat islands.

[hamin_aus]

Shopping malls are awesome, the good ones gather all of my shopping and most of my entertainment needs into one convenient location with safe parking.
I loved Gateway in Durban, it had everything.
I don't care how much electricity it uses and how much EMI some peoples tinfoil hats absorb.
I remember when Durban was load shedding, the Pick 'n Pay Hyper by the sea did a deal with Eskom where it's power would not be cut during load shedding. I'm not sure how much they paid, but I'm sure it was worth it. And on the occasional Saturday afternoons when I had nothing planned and no power at home, it was a pretty good place to kill a few load shedding hours.

In summation, they make my life a bit easier.
Not to mention all the jobs they create. My uncle who is a tiler worked on Pavilion when it was built years ago, and he bought a house with the money he made from that job.
Then after construction there is maintenance - and lets not even go into how many people the stores inside the mall employ!
Plus shopping malls mean new and better roads in the area where they are built, as well as new routes for public transport.
Having a shopping mall close buy also inevitably increases the value of property in that area.

[Bladerunner]

Win for jamin

[Siemens]

These days in the construction industry a lot of pressure is on the contractors and clients to ensure minimal impact is on the environment. In fact most Construction sites these days requires an on-site nature conservation specialist. And no planning or construction can start without a detailed Environmental Impact Assessment (le toolkit http://www.eiatoolkit.ewt.org.za/ ).

Environmental impact of the construction all depends on the area where it is located. For eg. a friend of mine worked on a mall in KZN and half way through the construction process they found out some rare mole lives only on that little area so they had to relocate the moles. The same thing happened on my site at PE (technically in the garden route). They found a super rare butterfly in the area and we had to build a freakin' Butterfly park.

[hamin_aus]

There's some rare moles that live on my back that I'd like to get relocated - can your friend help?

[Stuart]

There's some rare moles that live on my back that I'd like to get relocated - can your friend help?

I'm not sure that can be done without damaging your rain forest.

[hamin_aus]

I am not averse to some deforestation...

[Siemens]

Mentally disturbing image of the day: Check.

[Stuart]

I am not averse to some deforestation...

The deforesters probably are.

[RuadRauFlessa]

Jamin... the deforestation of your back is not exactly a topic you should be discussing in this tread... Either contribute and give him your thoughts regarding the impact a shopping mall may have on the environment or go discuss your moles somewhere more appropriate.

[StarBound]

Malls or Mauls as I like to think of them have a dire impact on the environment. They first start of by attracting the elements that up the monetary value of the once lush or barren piece of earth. But steadly as they attract more feet they start attracting the lesser elements of live. Soon that balance becomes a fight between those that wish to spend money and those that feel like shopping from the pockets of those ecstatic spenders who when reaching for their wallet cant even find a moth. And with all things once the spender and the seller are bled dry the only thing that remains is a husk of the mall in its former glory.

*plays national geographic music and fade out*

[J4p13]

At which stage?

From planning/build or from operational and even decommissioning?

Any of the above stages, although the operational phase is the most important.

Starbound, I don't quite understand your post, my english is very basic, lol.

The point of the thread is to get your personal views and opinions. And so far all (except the hairy moles on Jamin's back ) Have been exactly what I am looking for. Thanx guys. Keep it up.

[jee]

Just as a matter of interest - nope not shopping mall but our latest library..
https://www.facebook.com/notes/departme ... 0909014444

[Siemens]

I get the feeling all my info is going to be ignored anyway derp derp

[jee]

I get the feeling all my info is going to be ignored anyway derp derp

Siemens... do you know the saying..."soos 'n ou vrou met 'n nat broek.....?"

[Ron2K]

Starbound, I don't quite understand your post, my english is very basic, lol.

For the benefit of the CY folks: it's a sarcastic play on your stereotypical documentary.

[J4p13]

I get the feeling all my info is going to be ignored anyway derp derp

Whether or not the teacher is actually going the read the report/project, I cannot guarantee.
But your information has been noted, and will be added, and hopefully contribute to a nice 90%+ mark

For the benefit of the CY folks: it's a sarcastic play on your stereotypical documentary.

Lol, now I get it. I feel like such a idiot atm for not getting that.

[StarBound]

lol

No one gets me

But I don't know. I mean you shop where it is convenient for you and it attracts people like that or if the entire mall has something like a special 5% off everything from all shops then it might attract other people. It shouldnt have an impact though. It is afterall just a collection of shops put together due to spacing demands.

But food courts could attract rodents. Insecure high value item shops could attract crime (think oakleys and cellphones) as well as shoppers getting pick pocketed or worse. The positive side is less time spent on traveling and you have nearby alternatives though sometimes the prices are the same.

[J4p13]

You would have had crime at Insecure high value item shops anyway, having these shops in a mall adds a little security (For example mall security, video surveillance, and lack of quick escape route). In terms of the pickpocketing, I have to agree that it does kind of 'centralize' crime.