The mall the merrier

Let's face it, we like to shop. And malls play an important part in our lives.

An artist's impression of the proposed Mall of the World in Dubai. Courtesy Dubai Holding

Whenever a new construction project is announced, the cynics are quick to respond. So it has been with the Mall of the World, a new mega shopping centre planned for Dubai. "Not another mall," went up the cry on social ­media. "There are too many already."

Of course, there was a similar reaction when Dubai Mall was announced, and yet it is now the biggest shopping centre in the world by area and the country’s most-visited leisure attraction.

The simple, inescapable, fact is that people like malls. In a country where summer temperatures soar, indoor activities are always going to be popular. But more than that, malls have become the country’s biggest public spaces – they are the places where we live our social lives and they are not just simply places to shop. And, as the population and visitor numbers increase, we will need more such facilities.

Each mall has its point of difference. The Mall of the World is ­being promoted as a “temperature-controlled city” of 8 million square feet ­under a huge glass dome, with connections to 100 hotels. It all sounds a bit sci-fi, but if the past is any guide, it will be a very real part of the Dubai cityscape before we know it. And we’ll wonder how we lived without it.