Mall of America as a Human Geography Landscape

 Mall of America as a Human Geography Landscape

Most students in Minnesota have probably been to Mall of America at least once. Some people go there to shop, some go for food, some go for the rides, and some just walk around because it is something to do. At first, it might seem almost too ordinary to write about. It is just the mall. But human geography is often about learning to look again at places we think we already understand. In Human Geography: A Spatial Perspective, geography is not just about where things are located. It is also about how people shape places, how places shape people, and how space is connected to culture, economics, identity, and power (Bednarz et al., 2024). From that point of view, Mall of America is actually a pretty good example of human geography. It is a cultural landscape, an economic landscape, an urban-like space, and a privately controlled place that feels public but is not fully public.

One important idea in human geography is that places are built and organized for a reason. Mall of America did not just happen. It was planned. Its walkways, escalators, food courts, lighting, signs, stores, and attractions all shape how people move through the building. In his article on malls, Goss (1993) writes that shopping is “the most important secular activity” in North America, but also one of the least understood parts of everyday life (p. 18). That is a useful point because shopping can feel so normal that we forget to study it. A mall is not just a container for stores. It is a designed environment that tries to make people comfortable, keep them moving, and encourage them to consume. A person may feel like they are just wandering around, but the space is helping guide that wandering.

Mall of America also connects to urban geography because it acts a little bit like a city indoors. It has crowds, restaurants, entertainment, gathering spaces, transit connections, and different areas with different feelings. Goss (1999) notes that Mall of America has been called a “city within a city” and includes not just stores, but also a theme park, an aquarium, miniature golf, and a transit station (p. 46). That is a lot for one building in Bloomington. But it is not the same as a real city street or public square. A city has public spaces where people can gather as citizens. Mall of America has spaces where people gather mostly as customers. That difference matters. The mall borrows the feeling of urban life, but it keeps that life under private management.

The mall is also a cultural landscape. A cultural landscape shows the values, symbols, habits, and dreams of a society. Mall of America shows how important consumption is in American culture, but it does this in a way that feels fun and familiar. Goss (1999) argues that the modern megamall is a “dreamhouse of the collectivity,” where ideas about authentic life get attached to commodities (p. 45). That sounds a little abstract, but it makes sense once you think about the mall itself. Mall of America does not only sell clothes, food, toys, or electronics. It sells the feeling of a day out. It sells a little adventure. It sells childhood, entertainment, family time, and even a version of Minnesota identity.

That Minnesota identity is especially interesting. Goss (1999) explains how the mall used northwoods themes, Camp Snoopy, local sports history, indoor trees, water features, and images of lakes and forests to make the place feel connected to Minnesota. Of course, it is all indoors, climate controlled, and surrounded by parking ramps. But that is part of what makes it such a good geography example. The mall takes pieces of Minnesota culture and nature and turns them into something people can walk through and buy things inside. It is not fake in a simple way, but it is carefully manufactured. It gives visitors a version of place that has been packaged for consumption.

Movement is another big part of the mall’s geography. Goss (1999) calls Mall of America a “kinesthetic space,” meaning it is organized around motion and bodily experience (p. 52). This is something students can probably picture right away. You walk, ride escalators, look down over railings, follow signs, pass stores, smell food, hear rides, and maybe lose track of where you parked. The building is not just sitting there. It is constantly moving people around. This connects to the spatial perspective from the textbook because human geography asks how space affects behavior. At Mall of America, space helps decide where people pause, where they gather, what they notice, and what they might buy.

However, Mall of America is not only about fun, movement, and shopping. It is also about power. O’Dougherty (2006) studies the mall’s youth curfew and argues that the mall’s security policies were connected to public relations. Her article shows how youth, especially youth of color, were managed in a place that appeared to welcome everyone. She argues that public relations helped “veil the racial dynamics” behind mall policies by presenting them through ideas like safety, family values, and property (O’Dougherty, 2006, p. 131). This is where the mall becomes more complicated. A place can feel open to everyone, but still have rules that decide who really belongs and under what conditions.

This connects strongly to human geography because geographers study inequality and power in space. O’Dougherty (2006) explains that Mall of America became an important gathering place for local teenagers partly because it was accessible by bus and offered a place to meet friends. But when the mall created a youth curfew, it changed who could use the space and when. That tells us something important. Places are not neutral. A food court, hallway, entrance, or transit station can become a place where larger social issues show up. Race, age, class, transportation, policing, and private property all meet in the same space.

Mall of America is familiar, maybe even too familiar, which is exactly why it works as an example of human geography. Most people see it as a place to shop or hang out. But when we look at it through human geography, it becomes something richer and stranger. It is a built environment that shapes movement. It is a cultural landscape that sells identity and memory. It is an urban-like space that imitates public life. It is also a private space that controls who gets to belong. The mall shows that geography is not only about mountains, rivers, borders, or faraway countries. Sometimes geography is right there in front of us, by the food court, under the skylights, next to the escalator, waiting for us to notice.

References

Bednarz, S. W., Bockenhauer, M., & Hiebert, F. (2024). Human geography: A spatial perspective (1st ed.). National Geographic Learning/Cengage.

Goss, J. (1993). The “magic of the mall”: An analysis of form, function, and meaning in the contemporary retail built environment. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 83(1), 18–47.

Goss, J. (1999). Once-upon-a-time in the commodity world: An unofficial guide to Mall of America. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 89(1), 45–75.

O’Dougherty, M. (2006). Public relations, private security: Managing youth and race at the Mall of America. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 24(1), 131–154. https://doi.org/10.1068/d64j