Parks and Malls

Today’s recommended reading:

How a mall-turned-public park saved downtown Columbus

I especially like this quote, describing green spaces:

They are an experience you cannot get online,” Dunham-Jones said. “It’s that direct experience with nature. It’s that direct experience of social activities,” she said.

Of course the revitalization of the Symphony Woods land as Merriweather Park in Symphony Woods comes to mind. The response to programming at the Chrysalis has been overwhelmingly positive. But this article looks at what happens to failing Malls in the middle of a Downtown area. Ours is doing fine right now, but what would happen if it weren’t?

What if Columbia were not a city built around a mall? What then? I certainly don’t wish for the Mall’s failure. But surely there are folks out there somewhere who have to consider what would happen if it did. That’s a whole lot of land and a boatload of challenges. 

How important to Columbia’s well being is the continued success of the Mall itself?