A Quick Biography About the Austrian Architect Who Invented the American Shopping Mall

On July 4th, Tom Scott of the series “Things You Might Not Know“, wisely and appropriately utilized the time he spent looking for a parking spot to tell the story of Victor Gruen. Gruen, an Austrian national who moved to the United States, was an architect who envisioned the American shopping mall, only to be let down by what it eventually became – a “bastard offspring of his original idea”.

Victor Gruen is, according to history, the man who invented the shopping mall… but that wasn’t quite what he was aiming for. And it seemed like an appropriate day to do a video about suburban sprawl — happy Independence Day, America!