Historical Evolution of Market Architecture as the Main Factor in the Formation of Food Malls

Food malls represent a new typology of public buildings that emerged in response to the needs of the inhabitants of a modern city. They combine many small and diverse catering points, united by a single concept within a certain space. In addition to catering outlets in food malls, unlike gastromarkets and food courts, there may be additional entertainment features. This article provides an analysis of the origins of the origin of commercial urban spaces and the stages of their development on the example of Russia. As a result of the analysis, a clear historical scale has been drawn up, which shows the evolution of the development of trade markets as the founders of food mall architecture. The authors identify 9 main stages, from the 9th century to the present day. Three stages have been in the last 20 years, which shows how quickly the typology of public buildings reacts to external urban processes. The obtained results of the study will allow further analysis of architectural and planning solutions for food markets, food courts, food halls, food corners and food malls to identify the main patterns of their formation.