An Ongoing Conversation
about cities
and the people
who shape them
Featured Episodes
“A community life exists only when people talk to each other.” - Ray Oldenburg
It’s with that understanding that we begin this conversation.
This week, an estimated three million people will either be born into or move to a new city — roughly the population of Chicago, suddenly finding themselves navigating and depending on an urban environment they had little or nothing to do with creating. And then as many more next week.
The conversations we’re curating call on a remarkable lineup of people — some specialists, some generalists — each contributing ideas and inquiry to the ongoing urban experiment. I’m grateful and honored to welcome these extraordinary visionaries, and I’m equally delighted to invite you to join the conversation.
Because when we talk about the people who shape our cities, we’re talking about all of us, including the three million who will arrive this week.
This is a conversation about how we live together in cities — as natives and newcomers alike. It’s a story of finding our place, our people, and our purpose where ever we are.
It’s the story of belonging.
Whatever your role in building your city — and for however long it has been, or will be, your city — Welcome to The Sidewalk Ballet.
I hope these conversations bring you both ideas and inspiration.
— Chip “Public Character”
Community Requires Intention.
Theme Music by Peacoat project
“The ballet of the good city sidewalk never repeats itself from place to place, and in any one place is always replete with new improvisations.” — Jane Jacobs
The Sidewalk Ballet is an ongoing conversation about cities and the people who shape them. Inspired by Jacobs’ phrase, we look at the rhythms of public life — how we live together, move together, remember together, and learn together. Our guests explore the ways communities foster wellness and education, advance sustainability and justice, and navigate the struggles of coexistence: how we celebrate, grieve, and contend with difference while still finding meaning in shared life.
Hosted by Big Creative co-founders Abra Allan and Chip, The Sidewalk Ballet provides dialogue with some of today’s principal dancers, choreographers, and appreciators of the urban stage — place-management professionals, city builders, policymakers, authors, and ideators who are reimagining, building, and caring for our districts and public spaces. The futures of our cities are being written block by block, story by story. These conversations spark ideas, challenge assumptions, and remind us why place matters.
Join the Conversation..
Look, we get it. No one wants to be the first to the party. I mean how awkward is that, Am I right? on the other hand, think of how smug you can be when Sidewalk Ballet’s Discord server has a million followers and you can say you were one of the OG’s.
But seriously, The whole point of Sidewalk Ballet is to explore how we make better, stronger healthier communities. The only way we do that is if we engage with each other, share ideas, challenge each other to work more deeply and to help each other understand the complexities of place, culture and people.
Join here - https://discord.gg/AMXu2YW2M3
A few things you can do on our discord server:
Discuss episode topics with the SB community
Recommend guests and episode ideas
Participate in upcoming episodes
Share reading and watching recommendations
Ask questions of the community
Answer questions from the community
Maybe meet your soulmate