Commercial urbanism in Phoenix, AZ: a study of four commercial formats in Arizona

Abstract The flourishing of commerce has always influenced the development and growth of cities. Overtime, this relationship has given rise to the emergence of spontaneous and planned commercial formats, depending on people’s needs, technologies of production and distribution, sale and storage techniques and the technical innovation of firms. The Phoenix metropolitan area in Arizona is a complex case study due to its recent commercial developments with a mix of modern and postmodern formats and the transformations and adaptations resulting from the 2008 global financial crisis. This paper analyzes the characteristics of four commercial formats in the Phoenix metropolitan area (the Phoenix public market, a “lifestyle center” in Scottsdale, the Tempe Market Place in Tempe, and the commercial area of Sky Harbor’s terminal 4) and discusses a set of four implications for the future of commercial developments in the western world: local – global, material – sensorial, essential – dispensable, and authentic – illusory.