There are no easy answer, of course. Malls do provide decent work for a lot of people; I'm not arguing otherwise. But what I'm arguing is that high-end malls are not an efficient employment generator; what's more, they do a lot of unsustainable import business; and they use a lot of resources themselves.

Bhagwad is right about Walmart in the US, from what I've read. So we have to be wary of the low end as well, I suppose.

Anyway, I'm not saying seal them up tomorrow. I'm not even really saying we should ban the construction of malls. But society should not directly or indirectly subsidize them. And like any industry, we should make sure that they are not allowed to pollute (either indirectly, or directly) and then expect the public to clean up after them.

What to do? I'm no urban planning expert, but here are a few ideas. Of course, these apply to businesses other than malls:
Malls put a load on local infrastructure and sewer; they need to pay for that.
Malls should not be allowed to eat up farmland, nor should they be given preferential treatment when it comes to land prices, etc.
The price of shipping and disposal needs to be included in the price of all imported goods, where ever they are sold. I suggest some ideas about how to do this over at the green light dhaba in my latest post on shipbreaking. But these, too are just sketches.

These are just a few ideas. But right now, I think our city fathers like to see malls come up because they make us look like we're World Class. (And I imagine there might be a few suitcases of cash being given out in the permiting process, but of course that's just the cynic in me talking!) Neither of those are good reason to build more malls!

@Metaempiricus: Well I don't want to say the advocates of socialist utopias have done no good work (they get partial credit for a lot of good things in Kerala, for example; and I know Cuban doctors have saved lives all over the world). But they didn't do very well with the environment in Bulgaria, from what I've heard. We need to evolve a new politics, I suspect. One that recognizes that being good to people and being good to the earth we live on cannot be mutually exclusive. It's going to take a lot of thinking, I think!

HB

In the US, Walmart devastates the local economy when it arrives, put hundreds of mom and pop stores out of business and generates more unemployment than it compensates for.

This is not to mention the fact that it's always located somewhat outside the suburb and people have to go in cars for longer distances to shop where previously they had to drive much less. No chance of folks walking or cycling though. In any case, people shop for so much at one time that they have to use a car to carry it all – no decent public transport in the suburbs.

Kiranas give people a chance to buy one thing at a time – step out for a soap, a toothpaste, and hopefully that will never ever change. We shouldn't become like consumers in other parts of the world.

I never gave this much thought, but here are some observations.

The poor workers will not get homes if they stop making these malls, in fact they will be looking for work elsewhere. Malls are just another place they help to make where they do not live.

A mall workers working conditions are much better than most shop workers, even those who work in the wash rooms – they earn better and they generally respect these jobs as much as they respect a 'government job'.

Crocodile skin bags – will be sold from other outlets – I am totally against using animal products, but I am not sure if malls can be blamed for the use of animal products.

For many, malls become a very convenient place to shop or for leisure, a little like the Multiplexes. They are well organised, and I wish more of our markets were equally well organised.

Water fountains are not a malls-only phenomenon, and I hope the water is recycled (or should be). My only concern would be the air-conditioning.

In the beginning there were protests that malls will make the neighbourhood grocery shops go out of business. This did not happen, because the neighbourhood kirana guys learnt to provide efficient 'home delivery'. Perhaps the competition here will challenge our markets to get their act together?

But I totally agree that companies should not be allowed to pollute for free. And those who buy these products should pay for the damages.

But I don't want to get into all that, because I think we basically agree there is a problem and it is big, and there are many ways in which it will need to be tackled.

@Apu, you are absolutely right; it's not just the malls! The system we live in is designed to sell crap to people at all levels of society. I traveled 40+ hours twice by sleeper the summer before last and I saw an endless stream of poor vendors selling 10 rupee Chinese toys to families who would probably never shop at the mall. But the journey is long and hot, and any child can be amused by a cheap Chinese toy–until it breaks a few stops later! I think you are right; the market will not solve this one of it's own accord; they will need some…encouragement.

Normally it takes effort to go to several places and pick up this stuff but when it’s concentrated and systematic like it is, shopping is so easy! Supply chains become easier to maintain for the stores and the whole process becomes scarily efficient.