It Will All Fade In Time

Richard replies to the previous post....

Not so much a reply but a comment...usually the "system" is made so that the infrastructure costs (roads, water/electricity supplies. sewage) are paid for by the developer who builds the shopping centre...i don't know about Sweden, but the two countries I have worked in (Italy and UK) both have legal systems for this and it would surprise me that Sweden wouldn't have the same regulations...

I am in no shape or for advocating the shopping centre!

The model is very old, in the UK for example (which has one of the most contemporary economic models in Europe, a.e. a service economy with loads of consumer debt and a desperate need for people to spend) the Mall model is being driven out of the developers minds by a mixture of long term unsustainability, economic crisis and the need for a massive initial investment. A series of large scale commercial schemes have been presented in the last few years, and they are all in central London (they are all now halted by the economic crisis obviously).

In Italy...well, here everything is 5 years behind Europe and 10 years behind the states, so cities have built their own "car park with shoebox in the middle" hell, but trends are turning here too, as we see, for example, the multiplex being discarded as it is no longer considered viable investment in new out-of-town developments.

so to wrap it up, don't worry, sweden is a small economy going through the same motions as any other western countries in the last 20 years, it will all fade in time, hopefully :)