Ironic that the US is embracing Middle Eastern culture (specifically the Gulf countries). Honestly it's funny when Americans criticize cities like Doha and Dubai for being lacklustre and cultureless when most American tier-2 cities and towns are boring af. I've been told in some towns and suburbs that the best thing to do for leisure was to visit the local Walmart.
I don't know if all places are the same but one time when we were working on laptops at a mall in a common area we were told by security guards 1 hour later to leave so not sure if they can be considered public areas.