Xanadu Urbanism

"Xanadu" is the transliteration of the Chinese city that was once the summer capital of Kublai Khan's Yuan dynasty and is now better known as a metaphor for opulence. Most recently, the symbolism was applied to the massive mall under construction in the New Jersey Meadowlands, which was once known as Xanadu, but after foiling two major commercial developers, was re-branded two weeks ago as the "American Dream @ Meadowlands." Its amenities read like a development proposal from Dubai, circa 2007: water park, ice rink, ski slope and, oh yeah, three million square feet of retail (expanded from the 2.2 million square feet that were originally planned because they must have not been enough), for a total cost of $2.9 billion.

Leave it to the family that owns the Mall of America outside Minnesota and the West Edmonton Mall to believe this development exemplifies the American Dream. That the founding generation of their real estate development company immigrated to the U.S. adds an extra layer of symbolism to be deconstructed. Only in America can such excess exist and be celebrated as success, or so we dream while struggling elsewhere. The fantasies trapped in this project are too many to list: That an unfathomably gigantic mall will bring prosperity to the local economy. That the Meadowlands, down to one active sports facility from three but still saddled with millions of debt, will reinvent itself as a destination because of this mall. That all malls don't eventually slide downmarket. That Xanadu's widely despised architecture will become wonderful under the new ownership. That the state of New Jersey has made a wise investment. That people will want to spend their afternoons on the side of the New Jersey Turnpike, shopping at an environmental mess of a filled meadowland.

Then again, the Ghermezian family, whose company, Triple Five, is the developer, wouldn't be able to finance these projects if they weren't successful on some level. The Times reports that the Mall of America's sales last year were $640 per square foot, compared to an industry average of $385 per square foot. In America, apparently plenty of people jump at the chance to shop at a Michael Kors store under crystal chandeliers, which can now be found at the Mall of America after a recent renovation. The country is filled with remarkably ridiculous developments like this that sound bound to fail when you utter them aloud, yet they somehow manage to succeed. This is "Xanadu Urbanism": Delusional urbanism that loves materialism, gigantism and wealth -- fabricated or real -- over genuine, daily life. The entire city of Las Vegas fits in this category.

New Jersey's governor, Chris Christie, fell in love with it enough to provide $200 million of state subsidies to the Ghermezians' rescue of the development, despite his ardently professed record of fiscal conservatism. Christie says yes to attacking teachers for dragging down state and local budgets, but can't say no a project that is clearly too bloated and preposterous to succeed. Eight years of failure should have clued him in that this won't work, though one can also say that decades of failure in urban education should clue us in that new policy is needed. Dubai went under in fall 2009 after financing too many developments like these and hopefully the same can be said about Christie and the American Dream.

Thanks to Triple Five's Web site -- "americandream.com," which is absolutely brilliant and hopefully cost a lot of money to secure -- for the above photo.