Outlet centres are single-purpose, appear to be unsustainable and have no positive socio-economic impact. Joep Gosen couldn’t care less about them, but he went through with the shopping experience anyway to see which spatial factors make Maasmechelen Village (not) worth a visit.

As an environmentally conscious citizen, I looked into how I could get to the Village. According to their website, there’s a 20-minute taxi ride from Genk station. If I’m coming from Brussels, I can take the Shopping Express bus, an alternative that seems particularly appealing to tourists. So, I had no choice but to take the car, because although the owner, Value Retail, advertises good accessibility, Maasmechelen Village – situated on the Eisden mine site – is actually in the middle of nowhere.