CASE 021: SPACE TO PLAY
CASE 021: SPACE TO PLAY
CASE 021: SPACE TO PLAY
The limiting factor for football and many other sporting communities in our hometown of NYC. Not surprising. Space - or the lack thereof - is one of the central pillars of life in New York City. Dualistic by nature, that lack of space is not just a hindrance, but often a driver of some of the most incredible things about this place we call home.
Shrink space, and you produce proximity. Proximity enables the spontaneous friction that catalyzes community. And community is one of those virtuous creations that makes this chaotic city of 8 million people more than just livable. It makes it lovable.
Mile 11.5 of the New York City Marathon, Bedford Avenue. A corridor of screaming supporters no more than 12 feet wide. Arguably the most electrifying spot along the 26.2-mile course.
The Studio 54 dance floor. 5,400 square feet, estimated to hold 1,000-2,000 dancers at a given moment. That’s 5.4-2.7 square feet per person. “It's a dictatorship at the door and a democracy on the dance floor” - Andy Warhol.
Sheep Meadow, Central Park, a summer Saturday. Strike up a conversation, throw a frisbee, kick a ball with one of the 30,000+ strangers that enjoy the grass opening over the course of the day. "A friend may be waiting behind [that] stranger's face" - Maya Angelou.
Spend enough time on the streets, in the shops, or around the parks, and you will notice one thing. Space is there to be found. Sit or stand in that space for a few minutes, and you will notice something else. Space in this city is incredibly transitory. Fleeting. “It’s a wazzy. It’s a woozy.” It is there in one moment, and then it moves on. Occupied by a permit. A party. A reservation. A claim to it that is not yours.
There is a reason why youth soccer players across this city have training sessions and matches in numerous boroughs, across random islands, on the periphery of whatever can have a periphery over the course of any given 7-day period.
Holding space for play is a rarity in this city. It’s unfortunately become a luxury.
Is there a solution?
In the Spring of 2025, American journalists Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson published a book titled "Abundance". To oversimplify it, the authors argue that America can solve its most pressing challenges by overcoming self-imposed political and regulatory barriers that create artificial scarcity.
I wouldn’t say we have an artificial scarcity of space in New York City, but the lessons from Klein and Thompson remain powerful for our purposes. One application of their research? Stop looking for space where there is none. Start turning the spaces that do exist into what you need them to be.
At Studio 14 Case Studies, our mission from day one has been to study sport in society, create spaces for its exploration, and contribute to the community of football lovers in our hometown of New York City. We have worked with incredible brands across sports, fashion, and tech. We have begun to explore the far corners of the footballing world. But for so long, we couldn’t accomplish what on paper should have been the easiest: Securing a space to get people with a shared passion together, and play ball.
That wall was broken through when we stopped looking for space where there unfortunately is none, and started looking for space like a bunch of kids. Silly kids. The kind of kids who played sports in the hallways of apartment buildings. The kind of kids who turned a bottle and a trash can into a Champions League night. The kind of kids that refused to accept that there will be no play today because there was no ball, or goal, or field. We unfortunately lose so much of this type of thinking with age, molded by the “no’s” and “can’t do’s” that are a regular part of adult life. That is ultimately why the GET TOGETHER series was so important to us. It’s a challenge to our own patterns, contexts, and ways of thinking.
What do you need to play a game of soccer? Some people, a ball, and a space to run around. It doesn’t need to be a field. Hell, we don’t need grass or turf. Concrete, asphalt, rubber, wood, you name it; It will all do just fine. GET TOGETHER 001 was football in its purest form. A bunch of strangers, a ball, and an old repurposed parking lot.
In preparation for our next GET TOGETHER, we found that our parking lot was permitted - booked for a private event. And so we iterate. To the next playground. The next clearing of concrete. The next unzoned lot. Space to play in New York City will forever be a moving target, but perhaps it’s the mindset to not only chase it, but to reinterpret it that is needed above all else. Stop looking for space where there is none. Start turning the spaces that do exist into what you need them to be.
To quote Klein and Thompson, “Scarcity is not destiny.” If we want “spaces to play”, we’ll make them. We may need to get a little scrappy, but hell, isn’t that half the fun?
See you at the next GET TOGETHER.
