What the World Cup Can Teach Us About Creating Flexible Public Spaces That Can Accommodate The Unexpected
By funkhaus
For the past few weeks, Boston has been hosting the world. As the 2026 FIFA World Cup enters its final stretch, we’ve had the chance to see the city play a role that goes beyond stadiums and broadcasts. At the Studio Luz office, we’ve been following games when we can and even hosted an office watch party, like many others.
Throughout the tournament, parks, plazas, streets, and neighborhood restaurants have become extensions of the event itself. A plaza becomes a fan gathering. A local restaurant becomes a community hub. Streets that typically serve commuters transform into places for celebration, and parks become living rooms for entire neighborhoods. People who have never met have watched matches together, celebrated victories, and experienced the city collectively.
For architects and planners, these moments are a reminder that some of the most memorable experiences in cities happen not inside buildings, but in the public spaces between them.
These temporary transformations show how adaptive public space can and should be. Architects cannot predict every future event, but they can create environments that encourage people to gather, linger, and interact.
The most successful civic spaces remain useful every day while staying ready for the moments when diverse communities come together in larger ways, and knowing how a space will be used starts with listening to how it’s used today.
Whether we’re leading planning studies, designing housing, or working with educational institutions, community engagement is an essential part of our process. We spend time with residents, educators, business owners, students, and local stakeholders to understand how spaces are already being used and how they could better support the people who rely on them.
When people think about public space, they often picture parks or plazas.
In reality, it exists in the everyday places where life unfolds, like a school courtyard where students gather between classes, a housing development with shared outdoor space that encourages neighbors to meet, a library, a sidewalk café, or a neighborhood street that becomes the setting for a community event.
Across Studio Luz’s portfolio, we think about how buildings contribute to these shared experiences. Housing projects create opportunities for neighbors to build relationships. Educational environments encourage collaboration beyond the classroom. Planning projects consider how streets, sidewalks, and open spaces support healthier, more connected communities.
Though Boston’s time as a World Cup host will come to a close and the excitement will fade, the public spaces that supported it will continue serving their communities for decades.