urban studies

Yiling Zhang

USP 3

Professor Bush

6 / 1 / 2018

Downtown is the heart of a city. Downtown is also a gathering zone for public service and commercial facilities. The author (Sassen, 2010) states that cities are a dynamic place that is used as a scale for political dynamic and strategic economics. Downtown San Diego not only has a long history, but also has a beautiful view. People likes gathering with friends, making new friends and enjoying their free time in downtown. However, there are issues in downtown area.

There is a shopping mall called Horton Plaza with five floor outdoor shopping area located in Downtown. It spent $140 million and opened in August 1985 and run by the Hahn Company. The plaza is named by Alonzo Horton who was an American real estate developer in the nineteenth century. This is a high-risk and standard sample of the design of the radical left the shopping center. Interlanced level, long one-way ramp, suddenly dropped off, dramatic guardrail, dark colonnade, only dead ends, colorful appearance to create a striking architectural experience and market management of conventional wisdom. Traditional shopping center is the source of psychological motivation in order to reduce the environment. Therefore, customers pay more attention on goods.

I used to live in downtown back to high school period. I went there frequently with my friends after school. I enjoyed the times that I have spent there. I love the architecture style and the unique color. Horton Plaza is also selected as a scenic spot for visitors. Plenty of travel strategies are recommend this place. However, the plaza has lost the glory of the once. Last week, I found some problems that may be improve when I visited the mall. When I was walking on the outside of the mall, I found that there was a DiscoverBike station whose original purpose is to promote the green travel, low carbon environmental protection and benefit the general public. However, with the developing of shared bikes, like ofo bike and lime bike, the DiscoverBike station lost its original advantage. Unlike ofo bike and lime bike that can be returned in anywhere, we must park the bike in the discouverbike station when we return it, which is a disadvantage compared to the ofo bike and lime bike. In my opinion, the DiscoverBike station can be removed as it is a bit of a waste of resources. Besides, it is a bit unsightly because it is located at the front of the shopping mall. When I was walking inside of the mall, I saw some people riding bikes or skateboard go through the mall in the first floor. Such behavior may cause unnecessary accidents in the mall. So I think the mall should strengthen security work and prohibit the people from riding bikes and skateboard in the shopping malls.

The security in this shopping mall is not very good. I did not see any security go on patrol in the mall like Fashion Valley mall and UTC did. Furthermore, I even saw a tramp sleeping in the shopping malls. Back in 2017, there was a shooting in the mall, and one dead and one wounded after the shooting. According to the NBC news, “One person was killed and a second injured in a midnight shooting at San Diego's popular shopping complex, Horton Plaza, downtown, San Diego police (SDPD) said” (Tatro, 2017).

Due to the security issues, the population has reduced. Shops gone…...

Although the architecture style is unique and creative, there is a big issue of the building structure. Confusing direction is the main concern for customers. Some store that in the corner is hard to be found, and because of the faultage between floors, people is easy to get lost. In order to fix this issue, I suggest to build the guideboards. For example, UTC mall not only has the traditional digital guideboard but also has the digital version now. People can type the store name inside the system, it will give the direction to the store from your position. In addition, some stores are not connected to the mall. If you are walking inside the mall and want to shop Levi’s or Aeropostale, you have to walk out the mall first and find along the peripheral. On the other part, the square should be resigned. This spaces can be rebuilt and used for multiple purposes (Hoffman, 2008 ). The square is too empty, extra sitting area and coffee shop can be added in the square. In addition, stage can take place in there, just like the gathering place outside of the food court in UTC mall, local musicians can performance on the stage on the weekend during the daytime. The pedestrians can use this place for resting (Collie, 2014).