Since the 1960s, shopping centres have developed along the lines of the American model, caught between the centre and the periphery, and between economic objectives and urban policy. Half a century later, little seems to have changed, and even today the government is not always able to withstand the devastating logic of property developers.

The development of a new shopping centre often provokes strong reactions. The Uplace saga, which made front-page news in Belgium for a long time, is just one example. However, this mistrust of shopping centres is not new. In 1963, for example, the Dutch economist A.W. Luyckx wrote in the journal *Actuele Onderwerpen*: ‘Between Delft and The Hague, in Rijswijk, a modern shopping centre is under construction … In other parts of our country, too, the establishment of such ‘shopping centres’ is being considered … The situation is the same in the other Benelux countries … all of this following the American model. Will the high streets in the centres of Amsterdam, Antwerp, Brussels, The Hague, Liège, Luxembourg or Rotterdam be deserted?’