Week 11 Homework

1.) In Margaret Crawford’s Essay “The World in a Shopping Mall,” She outlines that “the size and scale of a mall reflects “threshold demand” – what does this term mean?

Threshold demand is referring to the minimum number of customer potentials that are present within the geographical range of the retail item in order to make a profit.


2.)In the same article, she describes something called “spontaneous malling” – what does this term mean?

Spontaneous malling is referred to the notion that a mall can be constructed utilizing buildings that are already in place. It is the idea that a mall can be set up just about anywhere and that existing buildings that are vacant can easily be transformed into a shopping mall.

3.)According to Michael Sorkin in “See You In Disneyland,” how did Disneyland have its origins?

According to Sorkin, Disneyland's origins were when Walt Disney had gone to an existing theme park and was disappointed in the horrid conditions. With this notion, Walt Disney was spurred into creating what is now considered the Happiest Place on Earth, Walt Disneyland.

4.)Michael Sorkin writes that Disney’s EPCOT Center was motivated largely by frustrations Disney felt at his Anaheim CA park. What were those frustrations?

Walt Disney was frustrated with the sanitation conditions regarding his theme park, which was influenced by the surrounding hotels and restaurants. His distinction for the EPCOT Center was a central place in which he could control the entire environment of the theme park known as Disney World.

5.)In Umberto Eco’s “Travels in Hyperreality,” he describes Disneyland as “a place of total passivity.” What does this mean?

Eco explains that the visitors to Disneyland were in a passive-like mentality, similar to a robot with an embedded preset action process. Eco goes on to explain of how people that come to the park all venture through the park and are indulged and surrounded with sights and sounds from different attractions throughout the park.