Does your cunt have retail parks? Will post more pics after this

Does your cunt have retail parks? Will post more pics after this.

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looks depressing
this is like the capitalist version of the eastern European commie architecture we laugh at

Mexico does.

My entire country consists of this.

I used the British term for these things. Americans call them power centers apparently.

Looks like a mix of southern US and the mid west.

Mexico yes!

We don't say that in Virginia and the states surrounding it. Sounds like some goofy midwestern term

It is, hope they all get bulldozed but that day will never come.

>home depot

Can Mexicans even afford home repairs?

We usually call them "strip malls" (as in, a bunch of stores in a row with a parking lot in front of the row). As opposed to traditional, enclosed malls.

Not all strip mall developments are awful. They built one in Portland near the airport and hooked it up to a light rail line, and it seems to function reasonably well.

i really hate these kinds of places. I visited this one a few months ago and it's awful, it's so far away from anything but it was crowded with people

Here a strip mall is a bunch of stores sharing the same building with the same parking lot. Simply having a bunch of stores lined up isn't considered a strip mall here. Usually the building has it's own name too whereas I've noticed that American strip malls just use the names of the shops.

Does it counts if it's indoors ?

>crowded

That's kinda the point. It's supposed to be a social atmosphere like a shopping centre or market.

That's just a mall

It doesn't work that way at all though. People just buy there big loads of shit and put it in their SUV or truck and drive away.

Yes, thank god my city is rezoning as a lot of strip malls around here are dead as businesses are moving downtown.

Then we don't have these in Europe

It's a good thing by the look of it

They're a product of the soulless north american suburb.

Being around other people influences what you buy thought. I once went into an expensive shop I couldn't afford just because I saw a hot girl walk by. Didn't buy anything but you can see how it can influence buying behaviour. And if everything is in one place you're more likely to buy everything in one trip which means more money in the long run.

Okay edgelord get some sleep

Yes it is. I would kill to have actual organic urban areas and not this shit. It's either this or be a gommie though I guess.

How is not liking tasteless shit edgy?

It's not like suburbs can't be tasteful it's just that people don't have time to develop regional culture.

We do. They are built in cheaper areas on the fringes of cities. Every time I see those I wonder what would look like an italian colony and think probably not so different from the US.
When space is available it's more or less the same.

This looks like a regular shopping mall though

Well yeah because nobody ever actually has to interact with each other. There isn't any community beyond PTA meetings and swim meets or other prissy soccer mom bullshit. It's very easy to get sick of, unless you're just somebody that wants a house and a yard and to be left alone beyond that.

No, a mall would have a single building and a single name. This is more like a bunch of strip malls lined up.

This. They're asocial in nature by design.

Single use zoning, traversed only by car, houses are far away from street and fences between neighbors.

yeah

some close to the german borders are little crazy

You have supermarché.

That's how every shopping mall in France looks like though


I've never seen a shooping mall with one name, it's always a big supermarket + a lot of other smaller shops

So you want people invading your private life? The downtown area is for socialising, suburbs are for privacy.

Are you sure this isn't a theme park?

Unfortunately we do.

I'm from the United State. Retail parks and strip malls are among two of my least favorite aspects of home. They tend to be unsightly, lacking in character, and evidence of our over-reliance on automobiles. Since I live in Michigan, which was largely developed after the advent of the car, many of our towns and cities are carved out and planned around roads and the convenience of drivers. Mid-century urban planning policies dashed the usefulness of public transportation and helped facilitate the creation of the kinds of abominations apparent in OP's picture.

One of my favorite localities in Michigan is Ann Arbor. There's an ordinance which bans most chain restaurants and businesses from operating within a certain distance of the city-center. Walking and bicycling is encouraged. Even though there's not a very big population in AA, the layout of Downtown makes it seem like a big city, with plenty of outdoor cafes, independently-owned businesses, and some high-rise buildings.

Contrast that to East Lansing, which is full of shitty and decent chains like Potbelly Sandwiches, Taco Bell, Jimmy John's, and B-Dubs. Aside from the college bars and the campus across the street, you get the same shit as you would in any mall in the country. It sucks.

In India, there's not enough space or money in big cities for shit like this to be common. Most places are family- or individually-owned. Might be a dirty and chaotic country, but at least it doesn't feel like a paradise based solely around brands, cars, and capitalism.

Suburbs in North America remove any socializing entirely. Suburbs have always existed, but in North America the word is associated with horribly planned shit described above.

That would be a retail park then. A shopping mall would be like a single building called "Main Street Mall" or whatever and a bunch of shops inside.

they're mainly like B&Q, Dunelm, PC World and shit like that
Pets At Home and maybe a Costa

The country is for privacy. Suburbs are entirely for convenience and really aren't that private considering you can't actually do anything with your property beyond making sure it looks like everybody else's property lest you get fined by a homeowners association or bitched at by neighbors.

The appeal of retail parks (at least to me) is being able to get out of the house and see a bunch of people. Going to a small shop or restaurant would feel like I'm just moving from one isolated area (the suburbs) to another slightly less isolated area.

nope

it was duty free shop before EU, its a casino, outlet, supermarket etc.

its runs by vietnamese for austrians

You're probably thinking of the very strict sense of the word. I live in the middle of nowhere so a suburb is more diverse and usually in the middle of a forest and you get to own your property and what not. I think Americans would just call this a residential area

no man, we all work at home depot and no one buys shit, it's basically america giving us free jobs, just like Germany with the VW plant and Canadians with their truck industry

I assume they thought that a castle would be the most appealing facade to Europeans kek

I'm really just letting off steam, I basically grew up in what I'm describing and live innawoods now too. Never regretted it.

I honestly don't see it that way. If I want to see people, I'd rather go to a mall or a park or a bustling downtown.

People where I'm from usually go to those kinds of places with a mission. They know approximately what they want to buy, shop by themselves or with family members, and don't interact with strangers aside from store workers and cashiers. What's the fun in that?

That's one of the biggest things I dislike about the US - outside of bars, work, and school, there's no real way to have meaningful interactions with other people. We're a bunch of closed-off cunts who spend most of our lives commuting, driving, working, and sitting at home watching TV or playing video games. Fuck that shit.

I like traveling to third-world shit-holes because people usually interact with one another or at least spend time outside walking and doing shit. Here in India, friends do a lot of shit outside of the house - I'm white, but my buddies regularly invite me for weddings, to go motorcycling, or to restaurants, on hiking trips, or house parties. In the US, especially small towns, there's shit-all to do besides spend money on crap or get high at home.

Even in Nicaragua, the second-poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, you can at least chill out and socialize with brown people sitting around the town square.

Don't really get that kind of vibe anywhere in the US outside of New England and cities like NYC and Chicago. Niggas just want to drive everywhere and mind their own business.

I've been by there several times, was shocked at how the gooks were running absolutely everything but liked the cheap quirky little stores.

That's exactly what I dislike about the U.S. too.

Amazing thing is how many people don't see how shitty that is and is probably why we have such a huge drug problem and kids shooting up schools, but they all want it to stay that way.

The only problem I have with that is that your life isn't as private and the people you interact with are observed by everyone around you. Like what if you're gay (which I'm not) and you want to interact with other gay guys? Your only method would be to go out in public to meet guys. Or you search around vigorously for underground locations to meet up. But I mean if you just wanted to go to the park and play soccer with some strangers then I can see the appeal.

>be American
>starve to death at home because your car broke down

You can have groceries delivered nowadays anyway.

Actually this is more true in the winter months. Right before a snowstorm, the shops are cleaned out by people who are expecting a power outage. Then when that power outage extends beyond what was expected we have empty stores, blocked roads and everyone panics. This happened last year when everyone stockpiled on gas and when it ran out they couldn't fill up the gas stations fast enough so there was like a mini protest outside the station.

they are not cheap lol

>first world
>power outages

No the biggest problem that is causing those things is the lack of emotional support from people. Americans are very bland in their emotions. They'd rather take medication or eat food to deal with their problems. Same goes for people in Canada. Even school counsellors and psychologists are shit. You can't expect the kids to grow up properly without some kind of support system.

Maybe because our entire infrastructure is designed to be anti-social in nature...

We don't have central hubs. Power is passed along a line so if one part goes out, it causes a domino effect across the city.

I'd always go over the Austrian border to buy stuff there, it was way cheaper. Also Krtecek merchandise makes good Christmas presents for European friends.

There are some advantages to it. For instance, here in India, people are sometimes too much into one another's business. Getting an apartment can be hard, because you have to live in synch with the other residents and the moral expectations of the landlord. Maybe one out of ten properties will be fine with you bringing girls home. Even engaging in activities like cooking meat or drinking in your flat alone can be an issue.

Still, I'd be happy to live overseas for a while, provided I was earning a salary that would let me live about as comfortably as I could in the United States. Hopefully I'll get the opportunity after I graduate.

Don't get me wrong - traveling a lot has made me appreciate "home" a whole lot more than I did when I was a teenager. I unironically love a lot about the United States, but there's enough lacking in our collective culture that I feel the need to explore new places and get out of the monotony and routine every so often (by every so often, I mean half of 2016 and 30 countries in the past three years).

That's true. Being different in a way that you didn't choose can complicate life in the sorts of places I'm describing. Being straight, that sort of thing doesn't affect me so much.

Everywhere in the world has its ups and downs. I by no means put places like India or Nicaragua on a pedestal - I can very easily appreciate why so many in this country want to leave. Being a woman who doesn't want to wait until marriage to kiss or date or have sex would be awful in India. A lot of people here are greedy hypocrites. On the other hand, cities are also a lot more vibrant, there's a huge amount of culture, and friends really make an effort to help each other out and be close (for example, people will just show up at your house unannounced to hang out, and that's normal - kind of cool, IMO).

Random pic from Nicaragua when I went back in May/June.

I've wanted to move in another country to experience what you're describing.

But I don't have a college degree, so I don't think I could get the same life quality as I could here, or even be able to move to another country.

I'm studying HVAC for what it's worth.

You don't really need a degree if you have some skills that allow you to freelance. I've been in India for four months. When I arrived, I had enough money for two weeks. Through freelance writing and picking up odd-jobs, I was able to slide by up until now. However, I decided it'd be in my best interests to go back home a little earlier than I planned, so I can finish my BSc in Neuroscience and move on to take graduate courses.

I'm 23 and still need to finish college. I've spent close to a year and a half in India over the past 3.5 years. Paid for my own travels by working as a sandwich delivery driver and later as the manager of a small trucking company. Never been rich, but I've gotten to see and do a lot, from hitchhiking in Iraq to the Gezi Park protests in Istanbul back in 2013.

If you have any skills with coding or software development, you can easily get by in poorer countries like India and Thailand doing work for American customers. Lots of people travel that way.

Not really knowledgeable about HVAC but I guess you'd have a hard time transferring that overseas unless you had an MBA and some management experience.

I'm more interested in South America or Europe.

>Not really knowledgeable about HVAC but I guess you'd have a hard time transferring that overseas unless you had an MBA and some management experience.

Yeah this is what I figured. I don't have very many options, I have to start making some money or my parents will kill me.

Also, if you want to take a break from your career path after a year or two, you can get a CELTA or other certificate that'll let you teach English overseas. You can get paid quite well by local standards in a lot of countries if you have a Bachelors in any subject to go along with it.

I was in Colombia in 2015 and thought about taking a semester off to teach English. I was offered about $1200 per month, which would have been a great deal for the city they were planning to place me in (it was a government-run program). However, my then-girlfriend convinced me to come back home on time.

Now that I'm single I might look back into it, but getting my degree is my main priority now. Getting sick of the poorfag life.

Pic related is Turks throwing fireworks at each other and the police.

I looked into teaching English overseas, but it wasn't a really viable option unless you had a college degree to go with it.

What kind of qualifications are you getting for HVAC? An associate's degree? If you have an credits which can transfer to a four-year university, consider taking classes part-time after graduating so you can eventually earn a BA or BSc.

If you actually want to move overseas and think it'd make you happy, having a bachelors would help a lot. Doubt it would hurt your income or earning potential at home, either.

>What kind of qualifications are you getting for HVAC?

It's for a vocational certificate.

Ah, never mind. Take some community college classes, senpai. If your parents aren't too rich, you should at least be able to pay for your credits almost entirely with Pell Grants and other financial aid.

My university tuition is $15k/year and most of it is covered by the Pell Grant and my university's own need-based grant.

I just suck at schooling. I can't motivate myself to do boring textbook work. I barely got through high school because of it.

I learn through experience way better.

We have shopping malls all over Europe with their own names, also in France.

Strip malls, while not as widespread and rarely as big as in NA, also exist here.

What's more unique to me about strip malls in the US are the chain restaurants however. There's much less of those in European strip malls.