In architecture, liminal spaces are defined as "the physical spaces between one destination and the next ." Common examples of such spaces include hallways, airports, and streets. But it’s a bit more than that, it’s that atmosphere of something being missing or empty, or about the change.
The best ones are almost always a clash of symbols of capitalist progress degrading or clashing with nature.
I’m a huge fan. Not in a morbid way, but it’s really intriguing, sort of jarring and melancholy, to see places that are designed to have humans in without them. Dead malls are good for it.
In fact, I have a reddit account that exists solely to occasionally push notifications from r/deadmalls and r/liminalspace
I followed the liminal spaces subreddit for a bit until I realised it was just folks posting photos of literally anything. ‘Is the inside of my tin cupboard liminal?’ No Kevin, your beans are not liminal. Step away from the bong.
That second last one really reminds me of the bit in Shenmue 2 where you have to explore all these nearly identical apartment buildings in Kowloon walled city
Yeah you know what you’re getting with deadmalls. I just get irrationally angry with liminal spaces. I think, “what about the default Windows XP desktop picture? Is that liminal?” broke me. It’s like hauntology - there’s an idea there but lots of folks just get it confused with general nostalgia.