Send us Fan Mail What if the most important infrastructure in a city isn’t a building, a bridge or a billion-dollar development? What if it’s connection? This episode on Schmooze with Suze, I sit down with Kady Yellow, a social architect, tactical urbanist, civic entrepreneur, artist, educator and internationally recognized Placemaker who has built a career asking a deceptively simple question: What happens when we treat the people who live in a place as the experts on what that place could become? Kady is currently Vice President of Placemaking and Events at Downtown Vision, Inc., where she leads work designed to make Jacksonville’s public spaces more public. But Jacksonville is only one stop in a career that has taken her through New York, New Orleans, California, Alaska, Michigan, Texas, Canada and Western Europe. Before coming to Jacksonville, Kady helped lead 120 pop-up projects in Michigan, activating riverfronts, parks, sidewalks, streets and alleys. Her work has included civic entrepreneurship, the creative economy, tactical urbanism, public-space activation and resident-led economic development. And the list of credentials is… very Kady. She is a TEDx speaker, International Downtown Association Fellow, Jacksonville Business Journal Woman of Influence, Leadership Jacksonville Class of 2025 alum, Strong Towns Accelerator inaugural class member, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy Research Fellow, PlacemakingUS Network Leader, Urban Land Institute member, Florida Main Street founding board member, former university adjunct professor and published author. She holds a master’s degree in Arts Administration from the University of New Orleans and, because apparently one undergraduate degree wasn't enough, dual bachelor’s degrees in Mathematical Sciences AND Graphic Design from Binghamton University. Which actually makes perfect sense when you understand Kady. She lives somewhere between the shovel and the spreadsheet. Between creativity and data. Between the person standing on the sidewalk and the person writing the policy. Between what a city IS and what its people can imagine it becoming. And somewhere along the way, this woman who is more than a decade younger than I am became one of my mentors. Because Kady doesn’t just practice placemaking. She practices people planning. We talk about building cities from the sidewalk up, where artists, neighbors, entrepreneurs and small experiments can turn imagination into actual public space, economic activity and eventually policy. We unpack social capital as a form of currency, and Kady’s idea that public space can function almost like a community bank. Every conversation, collaboration, relationship and moment of belonging becomes another deposit. We get into people planning, where the resident is the expert rather than simply the person invited to give “input” after the important decisions have already been made. Kady explains why she believes we should “pilot everything.” Pop-ups aren't just cute events or temporary activations- done intentionally, they become laboratories. They let cities test ideas, gather data, measure economic activity, learn what works and sometimes move from pop-up to policy. And we talk about how Jacksonville doesn't need to become like any other city. It needs to become more authentically Jacksonville. And we go into the messy stuff, too... What happens when “everything is for everybody” actually prevents us from creating meaningful spaces for anybody? How do you establish community standards without silencing disagreement? How do contracts, expectations and task forces create accountability when passionate people inevitably collide? How do we make civic participation accessible to people who don't know the vocabulary, don't know the people in charge and may not even realize they are allowed in the room? That leads us to Placemaking School, a free on-ramp currenlty in YEAR 4, giving residents access to the skills, tools, technical assistance and office hours necessary to move an idea toward reality. And then there are the artists who help create the identity, energy and desirability that make neighborhoods valuable, so why are they so often invited into development after the financing, design and big decisions have already happened? That conversation opens an even bigger question for Jacksonville: Do our creatives need a shared three-to-five-year vision for where we are collectively trying to go? A city can have money... land... developers, master plans, renderings and very fancy words... And still feel empty. The missing piece may be the thing we rarely think to put in the budget- Connection. How do we turn emptiness into energy? Isolation into connection? Blight into bright? Pop-ups into policy? And neighbors into an actual community? And maybe the most important infrastructure we ever build isn't made from concrete. Maybe it's belonging. SOME MORE OF WHY KADY YELLOW IS A MENTOR TO ME: 🎤 Watch Kady’s TEDxJacksonville talk, “How to Bring Your City to Life” Kady explores why renewing downtowns requires more than brick and mortar, and how social architecture, resident imagination, underground culture and creative placemaking can help bring cities back to life. Watch Kady Yellow’s TEDx Talk 🏙️ Read the 2025 PlacemakingJax Impact Report This is where the philosophy meets the receipts. Downtown Vision’s report looks beyond traditional development metrics to measure small-business profits, direct payments to local creatives, creative workforce participation, social connectedness and belonging. Read the PlacemakingJax Impact Report and explore Downtown Vision’s research 📊 Read Downtown Vision’s 2025 Annual Report For the bigger picture of Downtown Vision’s work, programming, investment and impact across Downtown Jacksonville: Downtown Vision 2025 Annual Report 💡 Learn more about Kady’s work at Downtown Vision Kady Yellow at Downtown Vision If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a friend. Your support helps more people discover these conversations and the remarkable people helping shape our communities and our future. Connect on Instagram @SchmoozewithSuze Subscribe to the Schmooze with Suze Podcast for your dose of #Culture, #Values and #GlobalCitizenship... with a side of #chutzpah... Don’t forget to leave a review if you enjoyed this episode!
