Connected Cities: How New Ecosystems of Stadiums and Entertainment Districts Transform Urban Life
Global events like the FIFA World Cup are redefining what cities demand from sports and entertainment venues and what those venues deliver in return. No longer standalone destinations, stadiums are now the engines that power experience districts – vibrant, walkable neighborhoods of cultural, commercial and residential spaces designed to enhance daily life and deliver year-round value.
Whether anchored by a stadium or a marquee hotel or entertainment venue, experience districts have become essential to urban growth and vitality. The data is clear: mixed-use developments outperform single-use properties in value growth, a 10-point increase in a property’s Walk Score is associated with an estimated 5-8% increase in commercial value, and the global experience economy – consumer spending on travel, restaurants, concerts and similar events – is predicted to hit $2.1 trillion by 2032.
People treasure places that provide all the elements of a rich, full life. Experience districts are “one of the best ways to catalyze growth in a city,” according to Sergio Saenz, Global Sector Director of HKS’ Place sector, which includes the firm’s hospitality, mixed use, mission critical, multifamily residential and senior living practices.
From Event Hosting to City Building
In this new urban development model, stadiums have moved beyond event hosting and into the realm of city building. As key components of the urban infrastructure that connect people and places, venues support temporary surges in activity during major events and provide permanent local benefits.
AT&T Stadium and SoFi Stadium are welcoming global audiences this summer as host sites for the FIFA World Cup 2026. The HKS-designed venues, to be known as Dallas Stadium and Los Angeles Stadium during the tournament, will be epicenters of activity in their cities throughout the weeks-long event. Mark Williams, Global Sector Director of HKS’ Venues sector, which includes the sports & entertainment, culture and aviation practices, described the World Cup’s impact on host sites: “The power and magnitude of events like FIFA are overwhelming, to some degree,” Williams said. “The nucleus of that energy is in our buildings. It will spread out over each city, but it’s centered on our designs.”
Williams said fans who visit Los Angeles to attend the World Cup will “talk about the match, but they’ll also be talking about how the breeze off the ocean felt on their face” as they enjoyed the game under the swooping canopy of SoFi Stadium’s airy, open-sided seating bowl.
Plus, they’ll talk about Hollywood Park, the 300-acre experience district anchored by SoFi Stadium. Built on the site of the former Hollywood Park Racetrack in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood, Hollywood Park features a 2.5-acre public plaza and a 5.5-acre lake surrounded by a 25-acre community park. The setting is a showplace for Southern California’s enviable climate and culture.
Besides SoFi Stadium – home turf for the Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers NFL teams – major venues in Hollywood Park include YouTube Theater and Cosm Los Angeles, both designed by HKS. Boasting 1.5 million square feet of retail, restaurant and office space in the heart of the world’s premier entertainment capital, Hollywood Park is credited with producing more than 40,000 new jobs in Los Angeles County and $1.5 billion in annual revenue to the city of Inglewood.
The Arlington Entertainment District, where AT&T Stadium is located, is a longtime tourist hotspot in suburban Dallas. The district includes several buildings designed by HKS that comprise a singular sports and entertainment destination: AT&T Stadium, iconic home to the Dallas Cowboys NFL team; Globe Life Field, the Texas Rangers’ MLB home base; Live! by Loews Arlington, a 280,000-square-foot convention center; and the Loews Arlington Hotel, a one-million-square-foot hotel complex. The Arlington Entertainment District generates $55 million in tourism-driven revenue annually. This revenue helped the city of Arlington pay off its obligation for AT&T Stadium debt 10 years early, expand municipal infrastructure, and fund public services and cultural initiatives, including $2.1 million in grants supporting local music, arts, theater, and cultural programming since 2022.
Beyond the Venue
To achieve these types of results when you create an experience district, “you don’t design for just game day; it is critical to design for every day,” said Mark Buskuhl, HKS Global Practice Director, Commercial Mixed Use.
“Arenas and stadiums and performing arts centers, those are the draw,” added Greg Verabian, HKS Regional Practice Director, Commercial Mixed Use. “That’s step one.” Step two is designing the surrounding district to entice people to spend more time in the district, instead of in just one building.
Experience districts increase density at the edge of a venue, where land is often underutilized. “Adding density adds value to the project,” Verabian said. “Activity in new hotels, shops, restaurants and bars creates a bridge from existing portions of the city into this new area.”
HKS’ master plan for Huntington Bank Field, the new Cleveland Browns NFL stadium slated to open in 2029, takes a holistic approach to creating a dynamic mixed-use neighborhood that’s integrated into the suburban Cleveland community of Brook Park. The master plan features a public realm of streetscapes that prioritize pedestrian comfort and accessibility. Diverse public spaces will include opportunities for sidewalk cafes, retail offerings and informal gatherings. The flexible design will allow for street closures to create pedestrian-only space during festivals or large events.
The space between buildings is just as important as the buildings themselves in designing an experience district. According to Saenz, some developers place a low priority on open space, believing it doesn’t produce revenue. “But the truth is, it does,” he said. “It’s the open space that allows the rest of the spaces in a development to be successful.”
For example, during the NFL season, the Minnesota Vikings dominate the field at HKS-designed U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. However, year-round, the stadium and its adjacent urban plazas provide Minneapolis with revenue from concerts, conventions, high school and college athletics, festivals and more. Construction of the stadium and plazas generated roughly $2 billion in public and private investment in the city, leading to civic improvements such as expanded public transit and new green spaces. In the decade since it opened, the venue has hosted approximately 1,900 events and welcomed nearly 9.15 million visitors. This social and economic activity has transformed the nearby East Town district into a lively mixed-use neighborhood where people live, work and enjoy entertainment.
Designing Systems That Work
Experience districts have evolved past the concept of “build it and they will come.” HKS’ approach is, “find out what they want, and build that,” said Becky Baron, HKS Principal on the firm’s Advisory Services team. By leveraging insights from fields such as neurourbanism and neuroaesthetics and analyzing market dynamics and consumer behavior, HKS spots service gaps and targets high-demand amenities to optimize land use.
“An experience district is a holistic ecosystem of human experiences. Our job is to use data to identify experiences that will not just meet a particular population’s needs but will delight them,” Baron said.
“An experience district is a holistic ecosystem of human experiences. Our job is to use data to identify experiences that will not just meet a particular population’s needs but will delight them”
Becky Baron
HKS’ advisory services team uses both quantitative and qualitative methods to achieve this goal. They analyze data such as spending and mobility patterns to understand consumer behavior and preferences. And they gather community input through surveys, focus groups and town halls to learn what people do – and do not – want in a local development. To inform the design of the new Washington Commanders NFL stadium, scheduled to open in Washington, D.C., in 2030, HKS has participated in a series of community engagement sessions with local leaders and residents.
The advisory service team’s data-driven approach helps expand understanding of user needs and behaviors. Rather than relying on hypothetical characteristics, as is common in the industry, HKS uses consumer behavior data to create detailed personas for target users. “We’ve got clients who are making big investments,” Baron said. “It’s not just financial – they’re making big commitments to communities. If you’re investing a lot of time, energy and money, you want to know who is really going to be attracted to what we’re planning.”
The planning process also involves reviewing similar projects that have performed especially well. These exemplars help set benchmarks for best practices and innovation. “Then we spend a lot of time with clients prioritizing development opportunities, asking, ‘What is most meaningful to you?’ The world is full of uncertainty,” said Baron. “Using to data to understand where we are and where we can go and then making informed decisions – that takes the uncertainty out of it.”
To learn more about how experience districts contribute to urban placemaking, see below. To stay updated with HKS’ World Cup coverage, follow us on social media.
