Why are Corporations Building Fake Downtowns?

Comments · 1.7K

• CI

  @Cityaestheticss · 10 months ago · pinned

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• LU

  @luckylunaloops · 9 months ago

  They&apos;re just privately owned open air malls. Developers that used to build actual malls now build these things.

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• HO

  @homelessperson5455 · 9 months ago (edited)

  They want the aesthetic of zoning laws they don’t support.

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• TH

  @thedapperdolphin1590 · 10 months ago

  City Nerd had a video about these types of places. He called it “simulated urbanism,” which I think is pretty fitting. You drive to some disconnected place that’s surrounded by parking lots to experience a few blocks of an imitation of a town center.

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• SP

  @spindriftdrinker · 10 months ago

  It&apos;s like living in an empty disneyland main street USA with no crowds and no rides.

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• LH

  @LHDAVIS1959 · 9 months ago (edited)

  Looks like living in the Truman show

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• IR

  @IreCannon · 9 months ago

  A big stone gazebo with a no loitering sign on it. &nbsp;Tells you everything you need to know.

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• SC

  @SchardtCinematic · 10 months ago

  Kind of like an amusement park creating a fake facade of an old town

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• DU

  @dudermcdudeface3674 · 9 months ago

  The term you&apos;re looking for is Potemkin Village. &nbsp;Corporations never miss an opportunity to prove their misanthropic credentials.

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• JO

  @jogryning · 10 months ago

  it truly feels a set devoid of actors, it also strikes me how much parking there is which really clashes with my view of how a authentic downtown should be

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• RO

  @rodneygillum5199 · 10 months ago

  I don&apos;t think you touched on the biggest problem of these places. The prices that exclude the people that would enjoy living there.

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• C0

  @C0ntrarianB4KA · 10 months ago

  I stumbled into a place like this when I used to do Doordash. It was a &quot;townhouse village&quot;, basically one of those apartment communities with a park and a pool, but all the apartments were constructed to look like old townhouses. I won&apos;t lie, it did look pretty nice. Even though it was an imitation of an old neighborhood, that still gave the residents some advantages, such as having streets safe enough to walk on, and the park and pool act as third spaces. The problem is that the village was completely disconnected from the rest of the city, so getting to and from it required driving, and there were also no stores, only houses.

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