public spaces

last week my cap class visited reisterstown plaza, which is actually a mall that, despite being "baltimore's biggest enclosed shopping center," appears to have seen better days. fletcher asked us to investigate lots of things about suburban gathering places & how they impact social behavior: plaza/mall design- is it comfortable? uncomfortable? beautiful? ugly? is the bottom line consumer needs or could there be possibilities for other cultural needs? is it a community space? malls have become such an integral part of our society, and aren't going away anytime soon. in the cap context you are need to go beyond complaining about their role in perpetuating consumerism, and start looking at the possibilities inherent in such a space. i hit the jackpot when i googled "mall as a suburban gathering place" and found the project for public spaces website. so interesting. that to me is community arts. why not? they are using design for social change, and have been very successful so far. the more i delve into this huge, abstract thing we call community arts, the more i realize how far reaching it is.