Geographische Rundschau, vol.62, no.1, pp.34-39, 2010 (Scopus)
Shopping malls have been exhibiting a mushrooming growth in Ankara. Their significance lies in the fact that it is more than being a center of shopping. Shopping malls represent an idealized social order in the everyday urban life of Ankara. Uniting every institution and activity of urban life under its roof, shopping malls claim to be a rival to the city center. Even though the shopping mall-based urban life is relatively refined in comparison to problems of urban public spaces, it does not mean that the mall is devoid of any problems. The security-based organization of the mall does not only jeopardize some of the democratic rights of urban public spaces such as accessibility to all and freedom of speech but also becomes the basis of a socio-technological control which results in the emergence of a pattern of passive social exclusion for lower income visitors.