Los Angeles has no shortage of landmarks. What it lacks are enough reasons for people to use them.

Across the city, some of our most valuable public assets sit largely inactive for significant portions of the day. At the same time, businesses, residents, and local leaders are all looking for ways to bring more activity back into commercial corridors and civic spaces.

Most people treat those as separate challenges. I don’t think they are.

I remember standing outside the San Francisco Mint late at night after an event nearby. It’s one of the most historic buildings in the city, located in the middle of downtown, yet it felt disconnected from daily life. The building wasn’t the problem. The problem was that very few people had a reason to walk through its doors.

That observation stayed with me.

A few years later, I found myself thinking about the same issue while walking the Santa Monica Pier after sunset. During the day, the pier attracts visitors from around the world. At night, much of that activity disappears. It struck me as odd that one of Southern California’s most recognizable destinations had so few recurring opportunities for residents to engage with it after dark.

The challenge wasn’t the location. The challenge was usage.

Experience creates momentum

When we began producing recurring events at the pier, the response was immediate. People showed up from across Los Angeles and the nation. What started as an experiment grew into a repeat gathering that brought together founders, creatives, technologists, artists, and entrepreneurs from across the region by the thousands.

The lesson was straightforward: people don’t build relationships with places simply because those places exist. They build relationships with the places they use, creating memories and connections there.

That’s why the conversation around placemaking often misses the point. The goal isn’t activation for activation’s sake. The goal is to create consistent reasons for people to return: memories, connections, laughter, dancing, and joy.

When people return, the effects extend beyond the event itself.

Restaurants stay busy later. Nearby businesses benefit from increased foot traffic. Areas that might otherwise sit quiet generate activity. Over time, places become part of how residents actually experience their city rather than destinations they visit once and forget. Making a space become part of the new culture is what we thrive in.

We’ve seen that firsthand through our work with the Santa Monica Pier Foundation and the City of Santa Monica. Those partnerships worked because everyone involved shared the same objective: treating the pier as a long-term civic asset rather than simply an event venue.

That distinction matters.

Los Angeles is entering a period that will bring unprecedented attention to the city. The 2028 Olympics are approaching. Downtown office vacancy remains elevated. Hollywood continues to navigate significant industry change. Communities across the region are actively discussing what public space should look like in the years ahead.

The question is whether Los Angeles will use this moment to rethink how its existing assets serve the people who live here and people from around the world.

For decades, discussions about urban development have focused on what to build next. Increasingly, the more important question may be how we use what we’ve already built.

The city already has the landmarks. It already has the infrastructure. It already has the audience.

What it needs are more opportunities for those pieces to connect.

Before the world arrives in 2028, Los Angeles has an opportunity to make its public spaces more engaging, more active, and more connected to everyday life. Not just for visitors. For residents as well.

The success of the Olympics won’t ultimately be measured by two weeks of global attention. It will be measured by what remains afterward.

Los Angeles has always known how to attract an audience. The larger opportunity is creating places people continue to return to long after the spotlight moves on.

Ahmad Muhaisen is the co-founder and chief executive of RASA World, a West Hollywood-based events planner and operator.