ABSTRACT
A mutation of the Australian model, the London complexes are paradigmatic of a new kind of shopping centre. The history of the Westfield Corporation and the particular kind of shopping centre it developed is inextricable from the development of Sydney in the second half of the twentieth century. Westfield acquired the Stratford City site, originally intended as a new town centre, just as this master plan was being altered for London’s successful Olympic bid. Westfield’s London projects present themselves as a scenario for capitalizing on other highly connected centres and even for funding the extension of the public transportation network itself. The real tension in the Stratford ‘negotiation’ concerned the design review board’s desire for external, in addition to internal, circulation. The occupation of strategic sites in large and well-integrated transportation network offers Westfield access to enormous populations and thereby the opportunity to outdo its competition with the scale, quality, and diversity of its offerings.
