This project looks at shopping centres constructed over the course of the 1970s – a prolific period of construction for large-scale shopping complexes in towns and cities across Britain. It seeks to contextualise these developments within an historical, urban and cultural fabric to understand how shopping centres are integrated into existing landscapes. My research examines how the design, use and function of 1970s shopping centres has been adapted since their construction alongside changing social, cultural and political attitudes.

Taking a cue from Walter Benjamin’s discussion of the nineteenth-century arcade, as a catalyst for uncovering lost histories and past modernities, this project seeks to understand the role that shopping centres played within the built environment, from implementation to demise. Since the dawn of e-commerce two decades ago, the importance of the shopping centre as a mainstay in towns and cities has been in steady decline – something that has been exacerbated by the pandemic.

My research combines art historical literature on the design, visual culture and modes of representation with scholarship on the urban environment to situate the shopping centre within wider discussions about how space and place is navigated and understood. By focusing on the (re)production of spaces of consumption over time, I aim to contribute critical perspectives around how notions such as ‘authenticity’ and ‘materiality’ impact the design of the built (shopping) environment.