Architecture cabinet: Shopping Towns Europe

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Shopping Towns Europe, the second edition of the Architecture Cabinet, explores the introduction and dissemination of the regional shopping centre in Europe between 1945 and 1975.

Shopping Towns Europe demonstrates that – even though European shopping centres are often assumed to be no more than a straightforward American import – their concept and design often differed significantly from their cross-Atlantic counterparts. Through rich audio-visual illustrations of six paradigmatic European shopping centres, the expo explicates the key role that this commercial typology played in the post-war urban development of Europe, and also highlights how European shopping centres aimed to introduce new conceptions of collectivity into citizens’ everyday lives.

The exhibition is curated by Dr. Janina Gosseye (University of Queensland) and Prof. Tom Avermaete (TUDelft) and draws on findings from the eponymous book Shopping Towns Europe, which is set to appear in January 2017.