Times Square tot oder lebendig?

This article discusses the strength of the mythology of Times Square in New York in the face of an aggressive corporate pop culture. Coloured by a seedy history and set amongst a cluster of theatres, peep shows and neon lights, it exists as the transportation nexus of the city.
Recognized by the nation and in media saturated parts of the world for its unmistakable character and site specific nature, Times Square exists as, according to Boyer, an 'iconic place of pop culture'. Yet, due to its central location, it is desired real estate for corporate/commercial offices and megastores such as Disney, Virgin, Planet Hollywood, etc. As a result of such rich private interests it has become its own community, monitored and patrolled by private police. Boyer wonders if it could become an 'any-space-whatever place', where people no longer experience directly their environment, where the space has become so fragmented through representation that its meaning is left unrecognizable. I think that this is a valid question.
Living in Toronto periodically over the past ten years I have seen a similar phenomenon come to pass at Young and Dundas. It was not until I read this article that I recognized that it is truly a question of authenticity. When a space is designed instead of formed over time, it leaves a different flavour all together. With the new central square and flashy American advertising at this corner how long will it take people to forget that the space was augmented, that it formed out of a different kind of process than its historical predecessor, that it represents something of another place all together? i think that places can lose their meaning, and that this tactic of corporate display is perhaps one of the more accelerated routes toward the any-space-whatever.