Malls

The growing interest in sustainable consumption and green products over the last decade has led to a concern with the environmental impact of places where those products are sold—shopping malls. Increasingly, mall developers and operators are beginning to factor ecological and sustainability issues into their planning, marketing, and development schemes. The International Council of Shopping Centers, the global trade association of the shopping center industry, has recently established a sustainability portal for its Website and sponsored a “green retailing” conference that addressed “Sustainability, Energy and Environmental Design.” Given that mall operators are in the business of selling products and making profits, it is not surprising that a common refrain in this new discourse of sustainability places great emphasis on the fact that green shopping centers ...