Yes, city governments are looking at building new shopping malls to provide services and entertainment for the residents of that city. People need recreational spaces and public places, where they can take their family during holidays and weekends for some relaxation and entertainment. City governments find building these places like shopping malls a good option as they can include many things in one place like movie theaters, shopping, food courts, play zones for kids.
There are some advantages to these places, they generate revenue for the city government and at the same time provide services to the public of the city which is their primary duty. They can also use some of the land for better use. There are some potential disadvantages as well, these places cause huge traffic issues in major cities that already suffer from it. Also people some time hav to spend lot of money at these malls, which will cause them to loose savings. Also sometimes the land used for these malls can cause harm to the environment as lot of tres have to be cut down and this is a potential downside.
City governments have to find a way to provide these kind of sevices to the public but they should carefully study the project and its potential drawbacks before constructing something so big and costly.