The Revolution Will Not Be Air-conditioned 

Images of clashes between protestors and police in Hong Kong constituted the most sensational memories of global turmoils in the last phase of the pre-COVID age, and occurred, peculiarly, often against the backdrop of air-conditioned shopping malls. Taking this phenomenon as its point of departure, the architectural evolution of these retail complexes is traced to reflect on how the mall as a spatial form evolved from its colonial root of conquest, to a machine of consumerism and social control. Yet spatial design can also be subverted, turned into a ground for political action and dissent.