No structure better represents consumer culture like the shopping mall. For those who lived to shop, the mall was their home. But as online shopping became a mainstay, as teenagers started hanging out on Facebook instead of at the Orange Julius, the once-mighty mall came crashing down, literally and figuratively. And while it?s a nice idea to re appropriate these structures–turning them into something more useful than a place to buy Poison posters–doing so is not so easy. Most malls are not like the Providence Arcade, with skylights and external windows. They are like Casinos, lightless labyrinths designed to keep you in a consumerism?s snare. As part of a design charette from a few years ago, urban planning firm Duany Plater-Zyberk came up with one of the more clever mall retrofits we?ve seen. Their plan was to turn High Point, North Carolina?s decaying Oak Hollow Mall into a mixed-use, small-business village to be known as ?Inc.Pad.?
The plan has a number of components. From Lean Urbanism:

The redevelopment of the mall keeps the existing structure, as well as a substantial portion of the parking lots…The village consists of small urban blocks arranged in a picturesque fabric, creating generous civic space for socializing. The streets are narrow, accommodating pedestrians and bicyclists, but can also provide for small vehicles for deliveries…The new infill buildings are constructed with shipping containers, which will make the process easier, fast...