My project is about Malls in the St Louis area and how over time they have slowly dwindled and died out. I am connecting this drought of malls to the idea of the world transitioning into a more digital age.
This project is using Timeline JS to map the change of malls over time, from 1970 to present. I will be discussing the highs and lows of the mall life in St Louis and how they change and adapt to the culture of the time. I also talk about how malls are more than just stores, but really community centers where people can go to socialize. I will discuss how over time this idea of a shared community space has slowly faded out by ease of access on online shopping.
My main argument is that the decline of malls shows a shift away from community spaces towards digital ones. My timeline will show different moments in mall history to show how we have all used malls throughout the years. I still have some work to be done on the timeline but so far it is going smoothly. I personally wanted to do this project because growing up in my town back home, we had a mall I would always love to go to. This mall had all my favorite stores as well as food you could grab while shopping. Over the years they closed more stores in the mall, and it became increasingly empty. Nowadays there are maybe three stores left and its been forever since I went back there.
Here is a link to my WIP timeline