Urban Shopping Malls and Sustainability Approaches in Chilean Cities: Relations between Environmental Impacts of Buildings and Greenwashing Branding Discourses

Liliana De Simone and Mario Pezoa
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Liliana De Simone: Department of Applied Communications, Faculty of Communications, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago 8320000, Chile
Mario Pezoa: Department of Architecture, Universidad Diego Portales, Santiago 8320000, Chile

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 13, 1-23

Abstract: This article seeks to discuss the recent discrepancies between the environmental effects of large retail buildings located in urban centers and the media and corporate discourses that these retailers have on the environment and sustainability to the public and to local authorities. By using mixed methods of quantitative and qualitative data analysis of two of the biggest shopping centers in Santiago de Chile, this exploratory research seeks to inaugurate an interdisciplinary academic discussion on the relevance of comparing the media discourses about sustainability issued by urban developers and the physical effects that massive private buildings create in their surroundings. By using the retail resilience theoretical framework, this research seeks to understand the disruption in retail systems, both from socio-economic and environmental indicators. Comparing the environmentally sensitive discourses promoted by Chilean retailers in advertising campaigns and corporate speeches with the environmental effects that large retail buildings brought to the surrounding areas in terms of urban deforestation and increasing superficial temperature, this paper probes that greenwashing campaign are not only used to impact corporate legitimacy with consumers and investors but also to deliberately diminish the environmental responsibilities of private developers in vulnerable urban areas.

Keywords: shopping malls; retail urban systems; sustainability; greenwashing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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