Dr. StrangeBox or : how I learned to stop worrying and love urban big box retail
Author(s)
Press, Jared Harding
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Alternative title
How I learned to stop worrying and love urban big box retail
Doctor Strange Box or : how I learned to stop worrying and love urban big box retail
Other Contributors
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Urban Studies and Planning.
Advisor
Dennis Frenchman.
Terms of use
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Show full item recordAbstract
Over the past decade, Big Box retailers have been trying to tap into urban markets after years of explicitly avoiding them in favor of suburban environments. In the past few years, retailers have begun experimenting with new store models and layouts to better integrate into these urban environments. Research was based on site observations and analysis of five case studies, consisting of Target and Walmart stores built since 2008 in Chicago and Washington, D.C. An examination of the range of these new urban Big Box typologies was conducted to assess the current state of this phenomenon and attempt to understand and project its impacts on cities. This study found that this trend of urban Big Box retail marks a paradigm shift, suggesting that general merchandise Big Box retailers such as Target and Walmart can and will likely become legitimate urban elements by adapting their form (through mixed-use development) and function (increasing emphasis on daily living essentials, fresh groceries in particular).
Description
Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2013. Pages 117-118 blank. Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. Includes bibliographical references (p. 108-116).
Date issued
2013Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Urban Studies and PlanningPublisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Keywords
Urban Studies and Planning.