Analysis Of Cultural Landscape Essay

Cultural landscapes fall into three main categories. The most easily identifiable is the clearly defined landscape designed and created intentionally by man. The second category is the organically evolved landscape. The final category is the associative cultural landscape. Here the analysis is on Metropolis at Metrotown, which comes under the former category. Metropolis at Metrotown is a giant mall located in Burnaby, the third largest city in British Columbia by population, geographically sits in-between Vancouver and Port Coquitlam. The city is located just outside of downtown Vancouver and has evolved from a bedroom community to an urban centre and has lots to offer, from unique shopping areas, theatre productions, sports events and many more. The city has a mix of different religions and cultures. The ethnic identity is clearly visible in the city, northern parts of Hastings Street being well catered to Italian population, and south, Metrotown area with the mix of origins from China, South Korea and Yugoslavia. The time when SkyTrain, an automated train with advanced rapid transit technology, was constructed in the middle of 1980s, the dramatic development has started across the lengths and breadths of Burnaby, especially along Kingsway. This lead to the establishment of Metrotown Center in 1986, and consequently the residential areas around the commercial complex stood up in no time. Formerly the Shopping Mall was called as Metrotown Eaton Centre. But when Eaton was shutdown removing its stake, the Metropolis combined with Metrotown to form a single entity. Today this mega mall is the second largest in Canada. Today the expansion of the mega mall plays a major factor in the generation of economy and revenue from foreign exchange. The mall boasts the standard of living of the population in the city by giving employment. Job opportunities in the retail sector are expected to increase with about 97,000 new positions becoming available by 2011. Opportunities for retail sales associates, supervisors, and managers are expected to grow over the next eight years. The policy of recruitment is compliant with Human Rights Code, and prohibits discrimination in employment due to race, national or ethnic origin, citizenship, religion, age, sex, marital status, disability, language or record of offences. This mall plays a major role as one of the attractions of tourism. The mall offers attractive tourism programs like out-of-Town visitors, Group Travel Program, Meeting Planners and Sports Organizers, Hotel Shopping Packages. With the evolution of cross culture from different walks of the people, the globalization gave the speed to the spread of multi-national products in the city that never seen before. And these lead many more markets to see the light of the sun. This giant hall has around 220 shops, three department stores, multiplex theatres, restaurants, business offices, library, dental clinic, banks, cafes, spas and many more. The raise of public transportation in the form of Buses and SkyTrain emerged for the giant mall’s accessibility. And these add to the income generation from the parking and gas consumption. With the success of retail market, Government is benefiting in the form of Tax on the services and products. This giant mall is now touching the people from various walks of life. From the sales representatives to the market analysts , software engineers to librarians , cosmeticians to dentists, fashion designers to art suppliers, customer care executives , and the list goes on. If some people come to spend time in leisure, others come for partying. Round the clock this mall entertains the public with attractive events. Some of the annual events which include Clearance sales, Job fairs make the place the hot spot in the city. And the calendar always offers some new events to celebrate for the public like Fashion Shows, Music Awards, Contests and the list goes on. The mall is equipped with all necessary services to provide the public with the best shopping experience. The range of services include strollers, baby care in the food court, a nursing room, family washroom equipped with a baby change station and a Jellybean Park Play care. For giving the accessibility to all age groups, the mall provides wheelchairs on loan with free of cost. And sophisticated facilities are provided to the public to make their shopping enjoyable. Automated doors are located at most of the major entrances which includes Kingsway entrance, Real Canadian Superstore, Central Boulevard to name a few. It is also equipped with Passenger elevators. And modern, comfortable, and clean washrooms are available and they are also wheelchair accessible. Metrotown Food court caters tasteful food to public from various cultures and geographies. It is a very grand food court than the food courts of other malls in Burnaby. One can find Thai food, or a Korean cuisine ,or a restaurant making Caesar salad from Opa , along with the well known Burger King or A&W. The giant mall provides community rooms for the charities and non-profit organizations to make use of the infrastructure for the welfare of the community. Not only that, each year Metropolis at Metrotown donates nearly $1 million to charities and non-profit organizations, without discrimination on the basis of race, sex, or creed, to enhance the lives of the people in the community. Today the giant mall is one of the integral parts of the society and plays a significant role in the city’s economy and touches the lives of the people around the world, round the clock. References Anonymous (n. d) BCIT Retail Marketing Management Program . Retrieved March 26, 2008, from Anonymous (June, 2007) Metrotown Food Court . Retrieved March 26, 2008, from Anonymous (n. d) Tourism Programs . Retrieved March 26, 2008, from Anonymous (n. d) Cultural Landscapes – Categories and Subcategories . Retrieved March 26, 2008, from