A few years later, in the suburbs of postwar America, the Jewish refugee sought to reproduce the vitality of Vienna's city center and invented the commercial apparatus now known as the shopping mall. Larson's Southdale Mall in Edina, Minnesota, was the first fully enclosed shopping center in America. He then translated the concept to economically neglected city centers, setting the path for pedestrian zones and fighting passionately for an urban ideal without compromise. Designing the City in Suburban America embeds Larson's experiences and perspectives in a wider social and political context while helping us understand his problematic place in American architectural culture.