The Sidewalk Ballet Field Guide
The Sidewalk Ballet Field Guide is a growing collection of people, organizations, projects, books, ideas and ongoing conversations about cities and the people who shape them. It grows out of the podcast, but extends well beyond it—connecting the people doing the work, the places where it’s happening, and the ideas, experiments and resources worth carrying forward. Think of it as part reference library, part trail of breadcrumbs: a way to follow the conversation wherever it leads.
Explore by type, browse alphabetically or by date, or search for something specific. Follow the tags to discover connections—or explore the map to see where the people, projects and ideas in the Field Guide take us.
Flâneuse
I’m not entirely sure where to start with Flâneuse. I am sure that I didn’t want it to end. Lauren Elkin’s rich, layered exploration of cities, gender, power, and culture accompanied me as I walked my own city streets, recognizing the intersections and boundaries of this place in each chapter. Part memoir, literary analysis, and urban theory, it turns wandering into a kind of authorship—a way of claiming space, understanding place, and seeing the city on your own terms.
Susan Hughes
Susan Hughes is an award-winning Canadian author whose work spans children’s fiction, nonfiction, graphic novels, and picture books. She has written more than 30 books for young readers, often exploring history, community, social issues, and the ways people understand the world around them.
Her books include Walking in the City with Jane: A Story of Jane Jacobs, illustrated by Valérie Boivin, which introduces young readers to Jacobs and the observations about everyday city life that shaped her thinking
Placemaking for Children and Youth
Victoria Derr, Louise Chawla, and Mara Mintzer offer a practical guide to involving children and young people in urban planning and design. Drawing on international examples, the book combines principles, case studies, and methods for meaningful, ethical, and inclusive youth participation.
Jane Jacobs
Jane Jacobs was a writer, activist, and urban thinker whose close observation of everyday street life transformed how generations understand cities. Her work challenged top-down planning and championed mixed uses, short blocks, density, and the complex social choreography of sidewalks and neighborhoods. Her description of that choreography gave Sidewalk Ballet its name.