SHOPPING MALL LIKE AN “ISLAND OF OPPORTUNITIES”: THE CASE OF CIDADE NORTE

Abstract

Abstract: Shopping centers are developments that simulate the “ideal city”, where shoppers can find and purchase an extensive variety of goods that are offered in a enjoyable, quiet and free from the weather and problems that exist in the open city. However, in addition to goods, this commercial establishment model also started to concentrate services that until then existed mainly in other areas of the city, such as, for example, bank agencies, medical clinics, etc. However, the main argument for defending the availability of these services is that this way people would not have to move from the region they live in to more distant ones. The purpose of this article is to analyze this discourse using the Cidade Norte shopping as a research object, located in the North area of ​​São José do Rio Preto, a region occupied by the poorest families. Opened in 2012, the shopping center today concentrates a variety of services under the justification used by its agents that this diversity is beneficial to residents, but, as we will see later, it is not enough.

Keywords: São José do Rio Preto; Shopping mall; Cidade Norte; Services; North Zone.