There is no doubt whatsoever that shopping ranks among those activities that best represent the dream of Western wellbeing, as well as individual gratification; one of the things we do to take care of ourselves, allowing us to satisfy a different desire each time.
At the same time, purchasing something helps to define our identity because we choose items on the basis of their function but, and perhaps above all, on the basis of the entirely personal meaning we attribute to them.
It stands to reason then that shopping malls are the most accessible and democratic interpretation of modern creativity, fun places where we can literally experiment new relations in a social context.
As new meeting places for people, the challenge for the planners and producers of these places lies in taking the symbols of local tradition to new and contemporary levels: when reviewing the design of European shopping malls one finds everything from the multicoloured mosaic walls in Toledo and to the lively palette in Nemours, which owes so much to the fauve painters of the French avant-garde period.
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