What is a community? Is it the place, or the people? Is the definition static, or can it change? Is a mall a symbol of, a home to, or discouragement to, community?

These are some questions that arose during the PAC dinner on Tuesday, February 26. English professor Eric Nelson was the discussion leader, the topic being "Urban Sprawl."

Nelson centered the focus of his discussion on malls in our communities. Referring to his recent book on the Mall of America, he began with a history of malls in the United States. Community commerce began with general stores in the young America, an idea foreign in Europe. After the Civil War, they evolved into department stores, like Sears-Roebuck and Montgomery Ward. Woolworth's was the first cookie-cutter chain.

Things were cheap, off the five-and-dime idea. It was a new form of retail, and a threat to the traditional downtown community and local merchants. And as the population migrated to suburbs, the downtowns of the past started to disappear.

The first enclosed mall was designed by Viennese architect Victor Broom, built in Edina in 1952 and named Southdale Mall, sponsored by the Dayton brothers. Broom's idea came from the promenades of 18th century France. He saw the disintegration of the community in big cities, where downtown was no longer the common gathering place. People were living in suburbs, which he thought had no soul, no heart. He hoped a mall would provide that anchor for the community. Extra land was purchased surrounding the new mall, in hopes of developing a social center with a hospital and library nearby. Unfortunately, the idea didn't catch on the way he'd hoped, and he saw malls as additions to the disintegration.

The questions were raised, then: where is community centered? Are malls the "new downtown"? Can they be, if they're not "free"? Malls have been declared by the Supreme Court to be private spaces. They are not open to protests, and permission is required for candidates to campaign. The Mall of America often tries to have it both ways: the good neighbor, but in control.

Many of these controls are intangible. There are invisible barriers, ones that keep out undesirables. One won't see many adults in arcades for the same reason that few homeless or poor people frequent Brooks Brothers. Numerous subliminal influences are built into malls­some as simple as the layout. Curving walkways force people who come for one thing to look at more, and possibly buy more. The primary activity is spending, not gathering. It's a change in the character of the community.

Nelson argued that malls could be more of a symptom than a cause. We are a nation of consumers, and think of ourselves as such. Even with the government and politics, they provide a service for payment. John F. Kennedy once said, "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." The statement isn't nearly as powerful, but is in fact comical if "mall" is in place of "country." Nelson gave this example to show that malls don't encourage citizenship.

A Stillwater native joined the discussion, mentioning that her hometown had no mall and that she lived in a very close-knit neighborhood with a homey downtown. Nelson compared it to Northfield, saying they were both like "professional towns," providing outsiders with a stereotypical It's a Wonderful Life setting that they didn't have in their lives.

The hour-long discussion ended rather unresolved, but Nelson grinned and said, "This is nice. It's great to hear the different experiences, to see the issue from all different angles." PAC dinners are open to everyone, every Tuesday night at 6:00 in the Valhalla Room.