The idea of a mall as a social space is great; after all, lots of us spent a good portion of our teenage years hanging out at malls for a good reason, before they started kicking out the teens.
The problem with this is that it's expensive real estate, and people just hanging out and maybe occasionally playing some game isn't going to generate enough profit for the place to stay open.
That's only true as long as it is expensive real estate, though.
If half the storefronts are empty and shuttered, the causeways devoid of shoppers, the parking lots eerily silent, then how long is it going to remain expensive?
Yes, but for now, at least in the more desirable locations, they seem to be doing just fine selling lots of expensive women's clothes, shoes, and luxury goods.
In the crappy locations, if the rent goes really low, then it's more likely to attract a lot of gang activity and have a lot of crime.
Huh? Maybe some teens, but not all of them. When I was a teen, I had some peers who were like that, overachievers trying to be valedictorian and also involved in a ton of extracurricular activities. It was a total waste of time AFAICT: colleges don't really care that much about either one of those, your standardized test scores are more important. I easily got into a top tech state school just on my GPA score after they told me I was too late to register for that semester; they saw my SAT score and decided they could make room for me after all. I spent plenty of time at the mall, in pool halls, at Krispy Kreme donuts after midnight, etc.
And the lower-income, not-so-academically-inclined teens certainly aren't spending all their time doing homework and extracurriculars.
From what I've seen, it's changed over time. I graduated HS in 1982, my kids are in HS now. I had virtually no homework, and spent my spare time playing music, learning electronics, and eventually learning how to program. I wasn't concerned about college admissions at all.
The problem with this is that it's expensive real estate, and people just hanging out and maybe occasionally playing some game isn't going to generate enough profit for the place to stay open.