[schnevets]

To start, malls tend to be built on highways removed from a municipality's center. Many of the people in this area will need certain amenities (for example, schools) and will have commutes. The entire surrounding area would have to be redesigned before you can plop 2,000 new residents in an empty lot.

I'm not saying it can't be done, but making something more desirable is more complicated than just rezoning. And making something less desirable could be absolutely dystopian.

[epistasis]

The mall is perfectly suited to adapt to 2000 new residents; shift one store to a grocery, one to a daycare, and you're 90% of the way to rebuilding a nice little town center that lets people live most of their lives without a car.

The real problem is the planning profession, which has taken to such micromanagement of central planning that there's no way to dynamically adjust spaces to better uses. In my local downtown area, there are extremely strict rules about which type of retail are allowed where. And how close to which corners. It's a disaster.

[slfnflctd]

> for example, schools

I know of at least two malls near a place I lived a few years ago that have been partially converted into schools.

[jghn]

In areas I've seen, the older malls are effectively closer in due to decades of sprawl. If one converts those, the effect isn't as stark.