SHOPPING MALLS AND PUBLIC SQUARES, TWO DIFFERENT SEMIOTIC CONTEXTS IN THE EXPERIENCE OF LIVING THE CITY. CASE OF MONTERREY METROPOLITAN AREA, MEXICO

Abstract

The opposition between civil public spaces (Bauman 2015), such as the public square, in relation
to private spaces for public use, such as the shopping mall, condenses different semiotic contexts
in the experience of living the city, that is, semiotic spaces outside of which the very existence of
the exchange of meanings is impossible (Lotman, 1996), represented in the objects that make up
the place, the experiences of sociability between users and contact with the immediate urban
environment.

In this article, two types of shopping malls and a public square in the Monterrey Metropolitan
Area are analyzed with the aim of contrasting two different semiotic contexts and their
predominant characteristics. If we start from the notion of a current crisis in the way of living the
city, this contrast presents us with elements for a dialogue, an exchange of guidelines, with the
purpose of intervening in decision-making in the provision of background explanatory criteria
that allow the design of better urban spaces for social coexistence.