Retail Centers
A retail center is a collection of multiple stores, interconnected by walkways to allow visitors to easily transverse between the stores. Well known (modern) retail center examples are shopping malls, outlets and furniture- and automobile boulevards. Shopping streets and arcades are retail centers in a more historic setting: stores along a narrow (pedestrian-only) street, often between closely spaced buildings.
Both types of retail centers are focused on car-accessibility, but as a benefit of their locations in city centers, shopping streets and arcades usually have better public transit connections. The modern retail centers were developed rapidly when the automobile was introduced and consumers desired one location for all their shopping activities. As a result (modern) retail centers are typically equipped with huge parking facilities and located near major highways or interstates.
As the size of retail centers and the number of visitors is increasing, their (external and internal) accessibility is deteriorating. External accessibility is one of the main factors determining the attractiveness of a specific retail center. As public transit demand is very moderate (a result of location, transit times and the car-oriented mindset of visitors) parking facilities grow linearly with the size of the retail center. Walking distances from the parking and in the mall (the internal accessibility) become prohibitive and alternatives are required.
The transit alternatives can be feeder systems from parking to the retail centers, or internal transportation systems, connecting the different sections of the retail center. New ‘mega mall’ developments, such as DestiNY USA and Burj Dubai, combine retail, entertainment, recreation and lodging thus introducing the absolute necessity for an on-site integrated internal transportation network!
However, even (in comparison) small and moderate sized retail centers can require feeder systems to improve their accessibility by connecting their retail center to remote parking or nearby public transportation nodes. In the Dutch research program ‘People Movers on the Road’ a connection between a remote parking facility, the train station and the shopping district in the city center of Almere is studied (as an example case for similar cities in the Netherlands and Europe).
Automated People Movers are an interesting option for these projects - especially the electronically guided systems as they can be more easily integrated in the (existing) spatial planning and do not cope with unsightly guiding kerbs or rails.
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