For many kids, a return to the hallowed halls of learning is preceded by a visit to the crowded aisles of their local shopping mall  — to pick up school supplies and new clothes. Malls are much more than just pop culture nostalgia or suburban cringe — according to Alexandra Lange. In her new book, “Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall,” the architecture and design critic says malls show us how these places of commerce have become critical for communities, despite long-standing tensions on their role and responsibility to the city they belong to, and the shoppers in their halls.