Intervention in a big box landscape - How Borås can turn future consumption patterns into a driver for sustainable development

Abstract: Shopping centres, malls and big box retail stores can be found all over the world. But, in many places they have seen their hay day. In the US, malls are closing at an alarming rate and a common strategy is to transform these big boxes into new uses, both into a whole new neighbourhood or an individual building. In Sweden, the e-commerce is growing steadily, probably at the expense of the physical retail store. In the future, cities are expected to need a lot less retail space since we do our shopping in other ways. So what will happen with all the retail space we today have in and around our cities, be it external shopping centres or smaller stores in the city centre? What values do we want to promote and keep in our future cities? In Borås, the big box retail area is centrally located but still very car dependant. The municipality wants to develop this into an integrated part of the city, how can this be done?