How is Mauville City considered a "city"?

Question

Mauville City's appearance while Soaring is just a mall. It is also a mall when you explore the "city". I know that the second floor is Mauville Hills, a place that is basically a hotel on top of a mall. The last floor is the top of the building with open air. I don't get why it is a city. Two-thirds of the city is a mall!

Answer 1

In generation three Mauville City looked completely different.

Here it is in the original Ruby and Sapphire. However, if you look at Bulbapedia's page on Mauville City it says the following:

In Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, Wattson instead managed to redevelop it, modeled on Lumiose City of Kalos. Due to this, its layout has changed dramatically, becoming a mostly-indoor city with various shops and floors.

It changes in OR/AS as Wattson decided to redesign the town based on Lumiose City in Kalos.

Hope this answered your question :)

Comments

Yeah thanks, that makes so much more sense.

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I love how they link the games like that

Answer 2

A city doesn't necessary need to have a mall. All other cities in the game all contain at least a Pokemon centre and a pokemart. Mauville City has that and is almost the exact center of Hoenn. It is pretty much the main attraction. Also, many people come, sell, and visit Mauville City. The mall is just a main representation of that distinctive city. Hoenn is based on Kyushu, Japan and since Japan is such a busy place where lots of people shop, visit etc., the creators probably wanted to base the big idea on that.

Hope I helped! :)