Commercial real estate expert Roksolana Pyrtko notes that over the past decade, a quiet but fundamental shift in leadership has taken place in the global retail real estate market. In her view, shopping centres in MENA countries are now setting industry standards, outperforming Europe in scale, technology and conceptual approach. This is written by UNT publication.
In his blog Roksolana Pyrtko emphasises that Europe has set the tone in shopping centre planning and development for decades, but the main vector of innovation has now shifted to the Middle East. «Developments in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar are shaping a new model of shopping centres — as multifunctional spaces combining retail, leisure, urbanism and technology,» she explains.
According to her, MENA was the first to implement the mall-as-destination concept — shopping centres as urban hubs. Here, shopping centres have long ceased to be places exclusively for shopping. They combine entertainment, sport, family leisure, cultural spaces, medical services and even theme parks, which significantly increases visitors' length of stay and expands their role in urban life.
Roxolana Pirtko emphasises that Europe is moving in this direction more slowly, partly due to historical developments, regulatory restrictions and a lack of available land. In MENA countries, developers are working with large plots and the opportunity to design «from scratch», which paves the way for large-scale concepts that are unavailable to most European capitals.
According to the expert, the climate is also an important factor. In GCC countries, shopping centres effectively act as the main public infrastructure capable of providing year-round comfort. Hence the emphasis on smart air-conditioning systems, interactive navigation, multimedia installations and well-developed leisure zones.
Roxolana Pirtko notes that in MENA digital solutions — from smart parking to footfall analytics and operations automation — have long been the standard, whereas in Europe they are often perceived as an innovation. In large groups such as Majid Al Futtaim or Emaar, full-fledged analytics units for managing traffic and visitor behavior are already operational.
Europe and Ukraine should adopt the most successful MENA approaches: operational technology, reorientation towards a leisure model, and creation of spaces for spending time rather than just shopping. Ukraine also has an additional advantage: fewer historical constraints, which allows modern shopping centre development concepts to be implemented more quickly.
