Shopping malls as pseudo-public spaces. The shopping mall as an emergent public space in Palermo

Much has been written on the role of public space in contemporary societies, and many scholars agree that public space today is a controversial and arguably critical concept. It may actually seem that even the basic idea of what is or should be ‘public’ is experiencing a deep and troublesome reconsideration, as new forms of privatization slowly but firmly erode its fundaments. Within this conceptual framework, this paper aims at critically analyzing the idea of public space today, with particular attention to the idea of public space as a shopping mall. Characteristics of the Italian way of using shopping malls, and their social and spatial consequences, are investigated and analyzed through case studies in Palermo.