The Regional Exchange: From Main Street to Shopping Mall to App Info-Structure

Abstract

The current switch that has now made the shopping center model vulnerable to yet another evolution is the smartphone, which, since its introduction has become an essential component to American lifestyle even more quickly than the car, changing the way in which people engage in both social and commercial activity. Unlike their response to the automobile switch, if architects can recognize and accept the smartphone as a evolutionary tool, then they can take a center role in designing the next major regional exchange. This new social and commercial regional spatial organizer is still desired to be a physical place, however it would be reorganized around the role of the smartphone in this place. It would accept the recent movement of people back to urban cores, maximize a desire for not just physical mobility but also access to information, and balance regional diversity with global demands. It would consist of a range of specialized functions, or “Apps,” that assist, enhance and adapt to everyday activities at multiple scales. If the automobile was able to shift the center of American social and commercial interests from Main Street to Shopping Mall developments, then the smartphone could serve as the switch for the next Regional Exchange: an appbased information infrastructure, an “App Info-Structure.