Malls were originally designed to be the centerpiece of a community. For a long time, they were. Between the boom in online shopping and over-retailing, many malls were struggling even before the pandemic. Now, experts predict every 1-of-4 malls in the U.S. may close over the next five years. For this episode, we travel around the world to figure out why we go to the mall, how to build them more sustainably and how failing malls are being reimagined.

As head of the California Fashion Association, Ilse Metchek visits a different mall every week. She believes malls are no longer about shopping, they’re about experiences. To get a sense of how top-tier experience malls work, we head to Singapore, where restaurateur Howard Lo takes us inside the world-renowned Jewel Changi. Next up: Melbourne Australia, where architect Stephen Choi gives us a tour of Burwood Brickworks, a mall designed around sustainability and climate change. Lastly, we visit the Landmark Mall in Virginia, where Monise Quidley helped turn a defunct department store into a homeless shelter.

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