The Future of Malls

The public and stakeholders were brought together to reimagine the Malls of Mississauga through a day-long symposium.

People are changing the ways that they live, work, shop, go to school and use public spaces. Cities and towns are revisiting planning and city-building policies to reflect these changes. Mississauga convened a planning engagement process involving residents, designers, city planners and stakeholders to ensure that ongoing policy and planning work reflect and integrate a broad range of interests and objectives.

The Reimagining the Mall project was undertaken by Gladki Planning Associates, the Region of Peel and DTAH. Jane moderated a day-long symposium involving regional stakeholders and municipal staff in 2018.

Key findings and future scenarios included:

• Retail is changing (with online and Omni-channel) and will impact the physical infrastructure of malls. Destination and grocery anchors are replacing traditional department store anchors.

• Younger generations and older generations are driving less and therefore require environments supportive of walking, socializing and accessing goods and services.

• As impacts of climate change worsen, opportunities to mitigate against climate change, including strategies that consider the condition and quality of experience of less carbon intensive choices (i.e. walking and cycling) must be explored.

• A lack of housing affordability is a growing trend and therefore new housing models should be considered.

• The way people work is changing and therefore how we understand and plan for work spaces (office space) must also shift.

Learn more on the project website.