At AM, we place experience at the center of everything we do. It is not just a word in our name. It is part of our DNA.

A belief that the most relevant experiences are those capable of creating meaning, emotional connection, memory and - ultimately - transformation.

When we design experiences for shopping centers, we always think about two audiences: our client, who challenges us to create value for their brand, strategy and community; and the people who experience that space every day, often in a quiet, repetitive and deeply human way.

Doing great work for one requires a deep understanding of the other, pushing us to reflect on what we know about each side.

For decades, shopping centers were conceived primarily as consumption infrastructures. Efficient places designed to concentrate offerings, simplify choices and deliver on the promise of convenience. Bringing everything together in one place was, in itself, valuable.

But spaces evolve as society evolves.

Today, when almost anything can be purchased online, delivered to your home and returned effortlessly, convenience alone is no longer enough to explain the relevance of physical spaces.

The question is no longer simply how to attract more people. It has become something else: how does a place connect with those who visit it? How does it become relevant? What memories does it enable? What relationships does it help build? What makes someone want to return?

It is through this lens that a new perspective on shopping centers emerges:

In many urban contexts, these places have become spaces for meeting, staying, routine and security. Places where teenagers gather after school and begin defining their independence, where families spend part of their weekends, grandparents stroll with grandchildren, older adults sit and read the newspaper, and traditions are repeated year after year. In some ways, they can almost be mistaken for town squares, neighborhood cafés or park benches. Not because they are the same, but because they fulfill a similar need: the human need to be with others and to share experiences.

In an increasingly digital, automated and individualistic world, physical spaces gain value precisely because they continue to offer presence, connection, rituals and a sense of belonging - something as simple as saying “Good morning” with genuine intention to the person who serves us coffee every day.

This shift was anticipated with remarkable clarity by Joseph Pine and James Gilmore in The Experience Economy (1999). Their central argument was simple yet radical: in an economy where products and services become increasingly commoditized, value shifts. It no longer resides in the thing itself but in the experience it provides. While products are tangible and services intangible, experiences are memorable. And it is memories that justify preference, loyalty and repeat visits.

More recently, this concept has evolved. In The Transformation Economy (2026), Pine takes the idea one step further. Experiences can be memorable without being transformative. Transformation - not entertainment -represents the highest level of value. The distinction is precise: an experience is an event that is remembered; a transformation is an outcome that changes a person in a lasting way.

For those who design experiences, this distinction changes everything. It is not enough to create impressive moments. In this framework, more is not always more, and a great deal may still not be enough. The challenge becomes truly ambitious.

To understand what is really at stake, we need to rethink how we perceive public spaces - and shopping centers in particular.

A shopping center is not simply the sum of its stores. It is not a list of restaurants or a calendar of activations and events. It is a system. An idea that dates back to Aristotle and lies at the heart of contemporary systems thinking: the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

In a living system, elements do not exist in isolation. They exist in relation to one another. And it is through those relationships - and the intentional way they are designed and interconnected - that identity and purpose are created.

At this point, perhaps influenced by the excitement surrounding the upcoming World Cup, football becomes a difficult mirror to ignore.

A study published in the Journal of Marketing (2022) describes years of ethnographic research conducted by scholars from the University of Bath into what creates the legendary atmosphere of Anfield, Liverpool FC’s stadium.

Their conclusion was surprising: that atmosphere - the mystique - does not begin when the match starts, nor end when the final whistle blows. Instead, it is created through a chain of experiences and rituals that unfold over time and, through repetition, become identity and belonging. These rituals help create superfans who perpetuate the cycle as ambassadors of that same mystique, becoming part of the identity themselves.

The magic does not lie only in technology or spectacle. It lies in the ability to bring many people together to share the same experiences at the same time, feel the same emotions collectively and with purpose, repeatedly, over many years.

The lesson football offers retail is not scale or intensity. It is logic.

It is intentionally co-created experiences - between operators, brands and visitors - that transform a space into a place; visitors into superfans, into brand devotees; and a random collection of individuals into a community.

And do shopping centers need superfans?

If we believe that shopping centers aspire to become places that genuinely connect with people, find an authentic role within their communities and inspire every customer to become an advocate, then the answer is yes.

That is why at AM we place experience at the center of everything we do - and at the center of every experience are the clients we work with and, consequently, their customers. Not for aesthetics or convenience, but out of conviction.

Because we believe that the most relevant spaces of the future will not be those that offer more. They will be those that people feel belong to them - spaces that become part of their memories, their traditions and, in some way, their identity.

In the end, we all want to return to the places where we are happy.

*References*

- Pine, B. J. & Gilmore, J. H. (1999). *The Experience Economy*. Harvard Business School Press.

- Pine, B. J. (2026). *The Transformation Economy*. Strategic Horizons.

- Oldenburg, R. (1989). *The Great Good Place*. Paragon House.

- Hill, T., Canniford, R. & Eckhardt, G. (2022). "Social Atmospheres: How Interaction Ritual Chains Create Effervescent Experiences of Place." *Journal of Marketing*, 86(3), 121–139. Universidade de Bath.

- Collins, R. (2004). *Interaction Ritual Chains*. Princeton University Press.

- Durkheim, É. (1995). *The Elementary Forms of Religious Life*. Free Press.