Critical mau ling

We in Australia, while having gone to a complex perhaps to watch "Mallrats" or "Mall Cops 1 or 2", still refer to them as shopping centres. Hay Street Mall in Perth is a paved over block of one street where - other than service vehicles - it is pedestrian only. Martin Place, while differently named is the same arrangement in Sydney. The distinction is less clear the more Forrest Place (again in Perth) became Forrest Chase but it was once a pedestrian mall in the Australian sense, with balcony shops on one side.

The more startling thing to note is that the shopping centres are in communist and theocratic states, not capitalist countries. The Saudi Arabia supercenter is in Mecca
Philippines fills the Wiki list of giant shopping malls and China dominates here as it does in so many fields. Though I'm beginning to doubt this whole Great Mall of China thing as other lists concur with list 25 in placing the New South China Mall in that coveted spot and remarking that it is the place that remains 99% untenanted.

Iran has two in the list and Malaysia and Thailand feature prominently while Turkey is represented by the Istanbul Cevahir.

II

The lists use gross leasable area as measurement. Otherwise the largest would be the Dubai Mall.