In the 50s, everyone decided that it was a really good idea for every American household to have a car, families to have houses with yards and garages, and for all people to buy as much as they could to be "happy." Before that, America had the General Store, so named because customers could buy everything "in general" that they needed. Later, there were department stores that had several stores in one location, making it more easy for American families to get what they "needed."
All of these consumer centers evolved into strip malls, with malls that were just inside out, where the walking took place in parking lots. We liked it. We encouraged architects and developers to keep building these sorts of establishments. Just like the Hummer 3, we decided that instead of supporting multiple independent businesses that were walking distance from our homes (like they were in the "good ol' days"), we wanted one-stop shopping centers, bigger grocery stores, and football fields worth of parking.
I think it would be remiss to blame developers for giving Austinites what they want in the form of dozens of shopping centers. We had the opportunity to prevent this from happening simply by speaking with our wallets. Instead of paying for cars, we could have paid for an advanced transit system. Many Austin businesses could have remained if we had decided that instead of driving, we wanted a more pedestrian city. I find it difficult to completely take the moral high ground when we were pushing millions of dollars into these stores for decades.
We are responsible for all the traffic, and we are responsible for all the "Big Box atrocities", even those of us who living "traditional" Austin neighborhoods. There has been a new call for taking responsibility, and I think that Austinites are long overdue. After decades of supporting nothing but sprawl, we have done as much damage as we have done good, and the last minute is too late to cry foul.
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I would like to see a rule added to big box stores, though. It would be nice if they were required to have sidewalks from the main road they're on to their front doors. Most of the Walmarts in town are actually on bus routes, as is the mall, but they dump you off in the middle of a parking lot. I am within walking distance of my local Walmart (and a lot of people in my neighborhood do walk there), but there's no sidewalk to get across their parking lot.
You also don't bring up the secondary reason there aren't more shops inside of neighborhoods. Residents don't like the cars and fight them.
One of the main reasons we have big box stores and other warehouse style shopping (with accompanying monster parking lots) is because this minimizes distribution costs enabling an economy of scale for the retailers. That translates to lower prices. Yes people vote with their wallets, but only because it is cheaper, not because we prefer big box stores and highway gridlock over mass transit...
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