New York City’s Office of Mass Engagement brings the practices of grassroots organizing into City Hall, seeking to move public engagement beyond meetings and feedback sessions toward sustained participation in governing. Created by Mayor Zohran Mamdani in 2026, the office asks what happens when residents are treated not as an audience for government, but as active participants in it.

Tampa Soulwalk is a public art and cultural heritage trail celebrating the stories, people, and places that have shaped Tampa’s Black communities. Connecting murals, historic sites, landmarks, and public spaces across several neighborhoods, the project invites residents and visitors to experience Tampa’s history through art, storytelling, and place.

One of Canberra's most loved pieces of public art, Big Swoop is a larger than life sculpture of an Australian magpie pecking a chip.

The cheeky sculpture sits in the city's Petrie Plaza and is a nod to Canberra's unique urban wildlife. It was created by Canberra resident and artist Yanni Pounartzis and unveiled in 2022.

Sitting at 2.4 metres high and 3.5 metres long, Big Swoop is Canberra's contribution to Australia's list of "big things".

The International Downtown Association’s Emerging Leader Fellowship is a professional development program for rising leaders in the place-management and urban-district field. The intensive program brings together a cohort of professionals from around the world for leadership development, peer learning, and exploration of the complex challenges facing downtowns and urban places.

Beyond the formal program, the Fellowship builds a lasting network of practitioners working across business improvement districts, downtown organizations, economic development, placemaking, and related fields—strengthening both individual leaders and the broader profession.

Alternating Currents is an annual arts and cultural festival held throughout Downtown Davenport and the Quad Cities, bringing music, comedy, film, and visual art into venues and public spaces across the urban core. Produced by the Downtown Davenport Partnership, the festival showcases local and regional talent while inviting people to explore downtown businesses, places, and neighborhoods through the arts.

The Arts in the Right-of-Way (AROW) program facilitates art in the public right-of-way which is owned and maintained by the District Department of Transportation (DDOT). Examples of AROW projects include various forms of art on public amenities and facilities such as bike racks, utility boxes, and pedestrian areas. AROW projects can be implemented directly by DDOT or by eligible non-DDOT entities via a public space permit.

Color the Curb is a joint agency project between DDOT, the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities (CAH), and DC Public Schools (DCPS). Color the Curb is a subset of DDOT's Arts in the Right-of-Way (AROW) program, which supports designs that transform intersections into works of art to increase the safety and visibility of pedestrians while adding visual interest to the area.

Uchimizu (打ち水) is a traditional Japanese practice of sprinkling water on streets, sidewalks, and other outdoor surfaces to cool the surrounding area. As the water evaporates, it draws heat from the pavement and air, offering a simple, low-tech response to hot weather. Historically, the practice has also been associated with suppressing dust and welcoming guests.

The Malabar Hill Forest Trail is an elevated nature trail winding through a wooded hillside in one of Mumbai’s densest neighborhoods. Designed by IMK Architects, the project creates public access to an overlooked urban ecosystem while minimizing disturbance to the forest floor.

Don Lane’s month-long celebration of ice cream, small pleasures, and the places that create them. During July 2026, he traveled across California visiting nearly 100 independent ice cream shops—not to rank them, but to celebrate everyday sources of joy in communities across the state.

Allegheny County is always looking for ways to use the Sister Bridges’ lights to enhance their beauty and make them shine during major events Downtown and on the North Shore. So, we were proud to partner with the NFL to create special lighting displays for the draft.

Detroit SOUP brought neighbors together over a shared meal to hear local ideas, pool small contributions, and collectively fund projects making Detroit better.

SF Slow is a Jane’s Walk created by BIG Creative exploring the ways San Francisco tells its story through streets, buildings, public spaces, memory, and change. Part walking tour and part conversation, it invites participants to slow down and read the city together.

Jane’s Walk is an annual festival of free, community-led walking conversations inspired by Jane Jacobs.

On the first weekend of May every year, Jane’s Walk festivals take place in hundreds of cities around the world.

This essay from Filipeanut traces the evolution of the Philippine jeepney from prewar jitneys and autocalesas through the repurposing of American military jeeps after World War II and their emergence as one of the country’s most recognizable forms of public transportation. It explores the jeepney as both a remarkably accessible, locally created transit system and an expression of Filipino culture, while examining the difficult questions of pollution, safety, affordability, livelihoods, and cultural heritage raised by efforts to modernize the fleet.

Although many young people travel independently in the city, transportation research seldom considers the experiential qualities of their routes, focusing instead on the functional aspects of mode choice. More in-depth understanding of how adolescents experience, negotiate, and perceive everyday mobility can support informed design, policy, and planning interventions to make these journeys safer and more enjoyable

Tax Day Carnival was one of Warm Cookies of the Revolution’s playful experiments in civic engagement, using the familiar ritual of Tax Day as an invitation to talk about public money, shared priorities, and democracy. It reflects Evan Weissman’s larger idea that civic participation can be social, creative, and fun.

Compton’s x Coalition is working to reclaim 111 Taylor Street, the former site of Gene Compton’s Cafeteria and the historic 1966 transgender uprising. The campaign seeks community stewardship of the property and a future centered on culture, care, belonging, and the site’s living legacy of resistance.

Screaming Queens recovers the story of the 1966 uprising at Compton’s Cafeteria, when transgender and queer residents of San Francisco’s Tenderloin fought back against police harassment. The documentary helped restore this largely forgotten event—and the community surrounding it—to its place in transgender and LGBTQ+ history.

Compton’s Cafeteria Riots is an immersive theatrical production bringing audiences into the history of the 1966 uprising by transgender and queer people at Gene Compton’s Cafeteria in San Francisco’s Tenderloin. The production used performance and place to reconnect contemporary audiences with a pivotal piece of neighborhood and transgender history.