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Political scientist Justin de Benedictis-Kessner and Glitter founder Morgan Berman join Chip for two conversations about local government, civic life, and the complicated question of accountability. When responsibility for making a city work is spread across elected officials, public agencies, private contractors, nonprofits, and others, how do we know who deserves the credit when things go right—and who to hold accountable when they don’t?
Geographer Verónica Crossa joins The Sidewalk Ballet in Mexico City for a conversation about street vending, labor in public space, and why the familiar divide between the “formal” and “informal” city may not tell us very much about how cities actually work.
Recorded at the International Downtown Association Annual Conference in Toronto, this bonus episode brings together voices from downtowns across North America and beyond. Chip asks a group of downtown leaders what’s exciting them about the future of the field, what’s happening in their own communities, and one question chosen at random. From San Diego and Chicago to Tampa, the Quad Cities, Cleveland, Washington DC, Colorado Springs, Canberra and Toronto, it’s a lively snapshot of the people, ideas, and optimism shaping downtowns today.
Explore the People, Projects, and Ideas of the Sidewalk Ballet
Nobel Prize-winning political scientist Elinor Ostrom challenged the “tragedy of the commons,” demonstrating how communities can successfully govern shared resources through cooperation, collective responsibility, and locally developed rules.
Chelsea Ritter-Soronen is a multi-disciplinary visual artist, small business owner and public arts consultant. She is the Founding Principal of Ground Shift Studio, a mural company specializing in pavement art, established in 2013 (originally named Chalk Riot).
Rahul Kadri is an architect and urbanist whose work explores the relationship between cities, landscape, and public life. As Partner and Principal Architect at IMK Architects, he led the creation of Mumbai’s Malabar Hill Forest Trail, transforming an overlooked hillside into an elevated walk through the city’s urban forest.
Sheila Foster is a leading scholar of cities, democracy, and the urban commons. Her work explores how communities share responsibility for the public spaces, institutions, and resources that shape everyday life—and how collective stewardship can make cities more equitable, democratic, and inclusive.
Marian Anderson’s 1939 concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial drew an integrated crowd of 75,000 after she was denied Constitution Hall because of her race. The performance became a defining example of public space expanding who could gather, belong, and be seen as part of “We the People.”
Kathleen Rawson is a place management professional with more than 30 years of experience in nonprofit leadership, public space management, placemaking, and hospitality. Rawson currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer for The Hollywood Partnership, the non-profit organization that manages the Hollywood Entertainment District, including the world-renowned Walk of Fame. Before her new role in Hollywood, Rawson served as CEO of Downtown Santa Monica, Inc. (DTSM, Inc.) from 1997 to 2022.
Cara Courage is a researcher, writer, curator, and practitioner whose work explores placemaking, public space, arts and culture, and community participation. A leading voice in the international placemaking field, she has written and edited extensively on how creative practice and citizen-led approaches can shape more inclusive, connected, and meaningful places.
Anastasia Sukhoroslova is a Berlin-based urbanist, community builder, and founder and CEO of All Things Urban, a global platform connecting urban professionals with ideas, opportunities, organizations, and one another. What began as an effort to connect a highly interdisciplinary field has grown into a community approaching 100,000 people around the world, spanning planning, mobility, sustainability, technology, design, and other forms of citymaking.
Michael Berne is a retail planning and real estate consultant whose work focuses on the role shops, restaurants, and ground-floor businesses play in the life of downtowns and commercial districts. Through MJB Consulting, he advises cities, districts, developers, and communities on retail strategy and urban vitality.
Evan Weissman was a Denver-based artist, organizer, and civic provocateur who founded Warm Cookies of the Revolution, a “civic health club” that used art, culture, conversation, and a healthy dose of playfulness to get people engaged in civic life. His work explored how democracy could become something people actively practice together—not simply something they participate in at election time.
Stryker is the author of Transgender History, a widely used introduction to the political and cultural history of transgender communities in the United States, and co-director, with Victor Silverman, of the Emmy Award-winning documentary Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton’s Cafeteria. The film helped recover the history of a 1966 uprising by transgender women and queer people at Gene Compton’s Cafeteria in San Francisco’s Tenderloin—one of the earliest documented acts of collective queer resistance to police harassment in the United States.
Lezlie Lowe is an author, strategist, consultant, and journalist; a professional communicator with decades of experience. Her work, voice, and the issues she amplifies often centre on urbanism, gender dynamics, and the intersection of the personal and the political.
Be a part of the conversation
“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
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Produced and hosted by Chip
Theme Music by Peacoat Project
Mastering by Ryan Musante
Browse the Episodes
Political scientist Justin de Benedictis-Kessner and Glitter founder Morgan Berman join Chip for two conversations about local government, civic life, and the complicated question of accountability. When responsibility for making a city work is spread across elected officials, public agencies, private contractors, nonprofits, and others, how do we know who deserves the credit when things go right—and who to hold accountable when they don’t?
Geographer Verónica Crossa joins The Sidewalk Ballet in Mexico City for a conversation about street vending, labor in public space, and why the familiar divide between the “formal” and “informal” city may not tell us very much about how cities actually work.
Recorded at the International Downtown Association Annual Conference in Toronto, this bonus episode brings together voices from downtowns across North America and beyond. Chip asks a group of downtown leaders what’s exciting them about the future of the field, what’s happening in their own communities, and one question chosen at random. From San Diego and Chicago to Tampa, the Quad Cities, Cleveland, Washington DC, Colorado Springs, Canberra and Toronto, it’s a lively snapshot of the people, ideas, and optimism shaping downtowns today.
How much of a city is the ground beneath our feet? Sidewalks, streets and plazas make up an enormous part of the urban landscape, but most of the time we barely notice them.
Mr. Rahul Kadri is Principal Architect & Partner at I.M.Kadri Architects and the visionary behind the Malabar Hill Forest Trail.
In this episode Chip and Rahul discuss creating public green space in one of the most dense cities in the world. Plus participatory planning, designing for community and collaborative approches to architectural design.
The Constitution begins with "We the People." The rest of the American story is, in many ways, the unfolding of who becomes "We."
The Democracy of Public Space – Part One: Do We Mean It? traces the evolution of the National Mall from an unfinished vision into one of the world's great civic stages, culminating in Marian Anderson's historic 1939 concert at the Lincoln Memorial.
This is the story of an unfinished vision, a civic stage, and the generations of people who continue the work of becoming "We."
Former Santa Cruz Mayor Don Lane is spending National Ice Cream Month on an ambitious quest to visit nearly 100 artisan ice cream shops across California. But this isn't just a story about frozen desserts. It's about joy, citizenship, and what happens when someone approaches every neighborhood as an advocate for the people who make it special. Join Chip for a few scoops—and a conversation about the surprisingly civic power of ice cream.
The Constitution begins with "We the People." The rest of the American story is, in many ways, the unfolding of who becomes "We."
The Democracy of Public Space – Part One: Do We Mean It? traces the evolution of the National Mall from an unfinished vision into one of the world's great civic stages, culminating in Marian Anderson's historic 1939 concert at the Lincoln Memorial.
This is the story of an unfinished vision, a civic stage, and the generations of people who continue the work of becoming "We."
Business Improvement Districts have transformed the way many communities care for and invest in their downtowns—but the profession behind them has evolved just as dramatically.
In this conversation, two of the field's most respected voices, Michael Edwards and Kathleen Rawson, reflect on the origins of BIDs, the changing role of downtown management, and the leadership required to navigate an increasingly complex urban landscape. Whether you're a downtown practitioner, civic leader, or simply curious about the people working behind the scenes to shape great places, this episode offers a thoughtful look at how the profession has grown—and where it may be headed next.
Cara Courage is a researcher, author, educator, and internationally recognized placemaking practitioner whose work explores the intersection of people, place, culture, and community. In this conversation, she joins Chip to discuss the evolution of placemaking, the growing field of trauma-informed placemaking, and how places can foster, healing, and connection.
Connection takes effort.
It takes showing up. Returning. Participating. Making room for other people in our lives.
A short conversation about friendship, third places, belonging, and why service may be one of the shortest paths to community.
What makes people feel connected to a place?
In this episode of Sidewalk Ballet, Chip explores the idea of “Return on Emotion” with downtown strategist Molly Alexander — examining how joy, belonging, trust, shape the emotional life of communities.
Featuring a conversation with Santa Cruz Warriors President Chris Murphy and a reflection on an iconic Bay Area moment this episode explores the power of emotional connections to place and community.
In downtown Los Angeles, the Social District may have found the perfect face for a neighborhood: Pico, their beloved canine mascot and “Chief Experience Officer.”
In this Small Block, Chip talks with Nolan Marshall about mascots, place identity, community connection, and how a little joy can help make a big city feel human-scale.
Downtowns sit at the intersection of public life and private interest — places where questions around trust, safety, belonging, and authority become deeply visible.
In this episode, Chip talks with Shane Zahn of the Minneapolis Downtown Council about the evolving role of Business Improvement Districts, public safety, and civic stewardship in downtown Minneapolis.
Together, they explore what it means to build trust in public space at a moment when communities increasingly experience safety, authority, and accountability in very different ways.
To Celebrate Jane Jacob's Birthday, Sidewalk Ballet is launching a new series of bonus episodes that we are calling Small Blocks. Short stories about people and places that you can listen to when you just have a few minutes.
Our first Small Block comes from Susan Hughes, a Children's book writer from Toronto and her story about, well, Jane.
What does “urbanism” mean today?
In this episode, Chip talks with Anastasia Sukhoroslova about how ideas about cities move—across neighborhoods, across countries, and across a growing global network of urbanists.
Timed with Jane's Walk, the conversation connects the hyper-local observations of Jane Jacobs to the way urbanism is practiced today—exploring the tension between shared ideas and the unique context of every place.
tamika l. butler reflects on what it takes to build transportation systems that serve people—not just efficiently, but equitably. Paired with immersive field report from the Philippines about Jeepneys and for-hire vehicles, the episode explores how movement systems evolve: through need, policy, technology, and the people who shape them every day.
Retail is constantly being redefined—but it still plays a central role in how cities function.
In this episode, guest host Josh Yeager joins Michael Berne and Jaime Izurieta to explore how retail is evolving on the ground—from dwell time and hospitality to what actually makes a storefront succeed—and why it still matters for the health of our streets and downtown districts.
Democracy doesn’t disappear all at once — it weakens when people stop getting the chance to practice it. In this season finale, The Sidewalk Ballet closes with a conversation with Evan Weissman of Warm Cookies of the Revolution about joy, participation, and what it means to show up locally. It’s a reflection on why civic life needs more than expertise — it needs invitations, practice, and people willing to step in together.
San Francisco’s Tenderloin has long been a place of containment — and of community. From the 1966 Compton’s Cafeteria Riot to today’s fight over who controls the building where it happened, this episode explores how belonging moves from survival to assertion. In conversation with Breonna McCree, Co-Director of the Transgender District, we examine what it means to name a neighborhood, reclaim a site, and build cities that remember.
Public bathrooms are small spaces with big consequences. In this episode of The Sidewalk Ballet, journalist and author Lezlie Lowe joins Chip to unpack how access to restrooms reveals deeper truths about gender equity, public health, dignity, and who cities are really designed for—offering a fresh way to see the everyday infrastructure we rarely stop to think about.
What happens when people sit down and make things together? From a decades-long Valentine-making party in a Santa Cruz living room to art programs supporting immigrant and refugee communities in Oakland, this episode explores how creativity, friendship, and shared practice build belonging over time. Psychologist Christine Brooks helps name what’s happening beneath the surface — and why it matters now more than ever.
As a new year begins, we take a moment to look toward the future.
This episode features two conversations that explore how imagining what comes next shapes the places we live. Futurist JT Mudge joins us to talk about how foresight helps us think beyond binaries and prepare for change, while Seattle-based historian Feliks Banel reflects on the 1962 Century 21 Exposition and how visions of the future helped shape the Seattle we know today.
Together, these conversations consider how the futures we imagine grow out of the moments we’re living in—and how those imagined futures can leave lasting marks on our cities.
In this New Year’s episode of The Sidewalk Ballet, Chip is joined by Josh Yeager of Bright Brothers Strategy Group, a thoughtful practitioner and generous champion of community work, to talk about what he’s seeing on the ground across cities right now. That conversation anchors a broader reflection on the season, translating guests’ hopes for their cities into practical, local practices — simple ways of showing up, working together, and strengthening community where it actually happens.
Mara Mintzer is co-founder and Executive Director of Growing Up Boulder, a child- and youth-friendly city initiative rooted in the University of Colorado Boulder’s Community Engagement, Design, and Research Center. She leads efforts to embed young people’s voices into city planning, writes and speaks internationally about participatory planning with youth, and helped launch projects in Boulder that put children’s perspectives at the heart of policies, parks, housing, and public safety.
Jay Pitter, MES, is an award-winning placemaker and author creating joyful public spaces that foster belonging, prosperity, and cultural memory. She advances this work through cultural planning, policy frameworks, and storytelling—bridging rigor and collective imagination to advance public joy as essential urban infrastructure and a human right
In this episode of The Sidewalk Ballet, we sit down with Kady to talk about placemaking as practice and possibility. From Placemaking class to her on-the-ground experience building community through culture, she shares how storytelling, celebration, and showing up shape the way we live together. It’s a conversation about creativity, access, and the small, artful moves that change the feel of a city.
In this episode of The Sidewalk Ballet, we talk with Nate Storring, Co-Executive Director of Project for Public Spaces, about the organization’s 50th anniversary and the future of placemaking.
Majora Carter is a real estate developer, strategist, and Peabody Award–winning broadcaster whose work has redefined urban revitalization. She is the author of Reclaiming Your Community, a book that challenges the idea that low-status neighborhoods are destined to remain so.
Karen Christensen is an author, publisher, and founder of Berkshire Publishing Group. Her forthcoming book with Ray Oldenburg revisits the idea of the “third place,” exploring how we build community in an age of loneliness and division.