The Sidewalk Ballet

Downtown Chip
  • 5.0 (7)
  • SOCIETY & CULTURE
  • UPDATED BIWEEKLY

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.

Episodes

  1. Lezlie Lowe - No Place to Go! - Episode 10

    2D AGO

    Lezlie Lowe - No Place to Go! - Episode 10

    In this episode of The Sidewalk Ballet, Chip is joined by Lezlie Lowe, journalist and author of No Place to Go, for a wide-ranging conversation about one of the most essential—and most ignored—elements of city life: public bathrooms. What begins as a seemingly simple question about access quickly unfolds into a deeper exploration of gender equity, disability access, public health, privatization, and dignity in public space. Drawing on research and reporting from cities around the world, Lezlie traces how historical decisions, cultural norms, and policy gaps have shaped who gets to move freely through a city—and who has to plan their day around the nearest restroom. Along the way, the conversation touches on gender parity and the “urinary leash,” access for unhoused neighbors, the absence of legal requirements for cities to provide public toilets, and the growing role of private businesses and BIDs in filling a public gap. From Tokyo’s carefully designed public restrooms to Vienna’s human-centered approach and San Francisco’s Pit Stop program, this episode reframes bathrooms not as an afterthought, but as a powerful lens for understanding how cities care for the people who use them. We also Visit Portland Maine and talk with Cary Tyson about Portland Downtown’s Public Bathroom Master Plan. Plus we grab a burger in a converted Bathroom with Curious Claire. ----more---- And just in case you want more content about Public Bathrooms in cities, check out this great pod from our friends at We are City People. ----more---- Episode Links Lezlie Lowe Portland Maine - Restroom Master Plan Curious Claire - Would you eat from a Converted Toilet? London Loo Tours Bowl Plaza - Lucas Kansas Hundertwasser Toilets - New Zealand Tokyo Toilet Project

    1h 8m
  2. Dr. Christine Brooks - Expressive Arts Coaching and Community Building

    JAN 27

    Dr. Christine Brooks - Expressive Arts Coaching and Community Building

    Dr. Christine Brooks is the founding chair of the Masters in Expressive Arts Coaching and Community Building, a new program at the California Institute of Integral Studies, that blends creativity, leadership, and social impact. With a background spanning coaching, the arts, and community practice, she and her colleagues designed the program to prepare students to meet the challenges of our time — cultivating leaders who can navigate complexity with imagination, empathy, and resilience. Through this innovative curriculum, Dr. Brooks helps students explore how artful approaches to leadership can strengthen communities, deepen collaboration, and foster personal and collective transformation. Her work is rooted in the belief that coaching and community building are not separate disciplines but intertwined practices essential for justice, wellness, and belonging. Dr. Brooks talks with Chip about coaching in the expressive arts, community leadership and the science of friendship.   Also in this episode: We talk with Leva Zand from ARTogether, a small but powerful organization based in downtown Oakland that works with immigrant and refugee communities through art-making. Founded in response to moments of fear and exclusion, ARTogether creates spaces where people can gather, make things together, and build connection without pressure or performance. From open community sessions to youth programs and public art projects, their work treats art not as an end product, but as a shared practice—one that helps people feel seen, supported, and connected in a world where belonging is often contested.   Episode Links Expressive Arts Coaching and Community Building Arts and Health Role of Arts in Health and well being - WHO report Neuroarts Blueprint Science of Friendship Effortless City ARTogether Eventbrite Trends

    1h 13m
  3. Foresight for Cities - JT Mudge

    JAN 13

    Foresight for Cities - JT Mudge

    As a new year begins, we take a moment to look at the future. This episode features two fascinating conversations. First we talk with Futurist JT Mudge about how understanding changes helps us imagine, design, and prepare for the cities of tomorrow. Then Seattle based historian, Feliks Banel, highlights how the lense through which we imagine a future can shape the world of tomorrow. JT Mudge is an award-winning futurist passionate about sustainability, ethics, and ancestral futures. He holds a masters of science in foresight from the University of Houston, where he is an adjunct professor teaching foresight and change theory. He currently serves as a Senior Strategic Foresight Advisor for The United Nations Development Programme. The ideas and opinions JT expresses in this conversation are his own, and do not necessarily reflect The University of Houston, the UNDP, or any other organization JT is affiliated with. Feliks Banel is a Seattle-based historian, radio producer, and longtime contributor to public radio, where he specializes in Pacific Northwest history and civic memory. His work often explores how major moments—like the 1962 Century 21 Exposition—continue to shape the identity, culture, and physical landscape of Seattle today. (Extended conversation with Feliks available here)   JT Mudge United Nations Development Programme Metropolis The Toynbee Convector Feliks Banel - Cascade of History Seattle Worlds Fair Downtown Seattle Association

    1h 14m
  4. New Year's 2026 with Josh Yeager, plus Resolutions for a more connected city

    12/31/2025

    New Year's 2026 with Josh Yeager, plus Resolutions for a more connected city

    In this New Year’s episode of The Sidewalk Ballet, Chip sits down with Josh Yeager — a deeply thoughtful placemaker and one of the most generous champions of this work — to talk about what he’s seeing on the ground right now. Not in theory, but in real places, with real people. Josh brings a wide lens shaped by years of practice and support for others doing this work, helping surface the patterns, tensions, and quiet shifts that don’t always make headlines — but that say a lot about where cities are headed. That conversation sits within a broader reflection on the Sidewalk Ballet season so far. Drawing from conversations with guests including Karen Christensen, Jay Pitter, Nate Storring, Kady Yellow, Majora Carter, and others, this episode translates big hopes for our cities into everyday practices — the small, local actions that actually shape community. Josh Yeager Starkey Strategies Streets Department FIFA Cities

    47 min
  5. Placemaking with Youth - Mara Mintzer and Urban Design Forum Fellows

    12/16/2025

    Placemaking with Youth - Mara Mintzer and Urban Design Forum Fellows

    Cities are often shaped by experts, policy, and process. But what happens when young people are trusted to help lead the work? In this episode of The Sidewalk Ballet, we explore what cities can become when youth are treated not as voices to consult, but as collaborators to trust. Part One: Child-Friendly Cities, with Mara Mintzer We begin in Boulder, Colorado with Mara Mintzer, co-founder and Executive Director of Growing Up Boulder, a nationally recognized leader in youth civic engagement and child-friendly city practices. Mara challenges a core assumption of city-building: that children are future citizens, rather than current ones. Through partnerships with city departments, schools, and community organizations, Growing Up Boulder has helped young people shape master plans, parks, transportation systems, and public spaces across the city. Mara is also co-author of Placemaking with Children and Youth: Participatory Practices for Planning Sustainable Communities, a practical guide for youth-centered civic engagement. Part Two: Youth-Led Libraries of the Future — NYC The second half of the episode shifts to New York City and a team of fellows from the Urban Design Forum’s Forefront Fellowship Program. Through a six-month, youth-centered research project, the team explored a simple but powerful question: What could a library be if young people helped design it? Working with teens across Manhattan and Brooklyn—including at the High Line and the Free Black Women’s Library in Bed-Stuy—the team built a process grounded in trust, collaboration, and care. A Shared Thread Across Boulder and New York, a common lesson emerges: youth don’t just offer opinions — they offer clarity. They help us see cities not as systems to manage, but as places to belong. This episode is an invitation to rethink who we listen to, how we design, and what becomes possible when we trust young people to help shape our shared spaces.   Mara Mintzer Mara Ted Talk - How kids can help design cities Placemaking with Children and Youth Child Friendly Map Child Friendly Cities Youth-led Libraries of the Future Zine Archive High Line Fellows: Emerging Leaders Program The Free Black Woman’s Library Claudia Dishon   Nichole Aquino

    59 min
  6. Jay Pitter - Public Joy is as Urgent as Justice

    12/02/2025

    Jay Pitter - Public Joy is as Urgent as Justice

    Urban planner, author, and placemaker Jay Pitter, MES joins The Sidewalk Ballet to talk about her forthcoming book Black Public Joy: No Permit or Permission Required. Through her award-winning practice, Jay has shaped national city-building conversations and led equity-based projects across North America. Her work begins with one radical premise: that public joy is not a luxury, but a human right. Jay challenges us to reimagine how cities are built, governed, and experienced. Together, we’ll explore how Black joy operates as both resistance and restoration; how the spaces we design can either stifle or sustain belonging; and what it takes to create a civic culture rooted in care, connection, memory and shared delight.   JayPitter.com Black Public Joy evas.ca

    1h 2m
  7. Kady Yellow - The Power of Community in Place

    11/18/2025

    Kady Yellow - The Power of Community in Place

    Kady Yellow is an international Placemaking expert who has been activating public spaces since 2010, when she first discovered the power of collaboration among governments, communities, and the cultural sector to create vibrant, people-centered cities. In this Episode, Chip and Kady discuss her path, teachers and lessons that brought her to the work she is doing in Jacksonville, Florida, as the Vice President of Placemaking and Events for Downtown Jax. Kady shares her strategies for connecting citizens to civic life and reducing barriers, both for residents and municipalities, allowing for a greater sense of ownership and belonging in the places she - and fellow Florida residents work.   Episode coming November 18th Also in this episode, Chip explores Community Participation and Placemaking around a Submersible Embankment Project in Sunamganj, Bangladesh with Iffat Baki Bushra.   https://www.placemaking.life Downtown Vision How to bring your city to life | Kady Yellow | TEDxJacksonville Cara Courage DJ Larry Love Eric Liu - Citizen University Submersible Embankment Project Zarni deVette

    1h 7m
  8. Project for Public Spaces at 50 and Place Governance with Nate Storring

    11/04/2025

    Project for Public Spaces at 50 and Place Governance with Nate Storring

    Nate Storring is the Co-Executive Director of Project for Public Spaces, where he helps shape the organization’s strategy and leads its work in placemaking, communications, and development. Over the years, he’s been a driving force behind PPS’s publishing and research—including How to Turn a Place Around and new explorations of inclusive placemaking that expand how we think about belonging in public life. In 2025, Nate is helping steer PPS through its 50th anniversary—a milestone that invites both reflection and re-imagination: fifty years of creating people-centered places, and a future that centers justice, connection, and resilience. In this conversation, Nate talks with Chip about his own path into placemaking, the legacy and evolution of PPS, and the passing of co-founder and placemaking pioneer Kathy Madden—just days before the interview. Together they explore how our understanding of public space has changed over five decades, what still holds true, and how the next era of place will be defined by the complex realities of place governance and the ever-shifting boundaries between public and private space. Also in this episode, Abra Allan revisits an innovative exploration into coexistence in public spaces developed in 2020 by SPUR and Gehl.   Episode Links https://www.pps.org/people/nathan-storring http://www.nathanstorring.com/ https://www.placemakingweek.org/ https://www.urbanspacegallery.ca/ https://www.spur.org/publications/spur-report/2021-01-25/coexistence-public-space

    56 min
  9. Majora Carter on Talent Retention and Community Investment

    11/04/2025

    Majora Carter on Talent Retention and Community Investment

    Majora Carter is one of the most visionary voices in urban revitalization today. A real estate developer, strategist, and Peabody Award–winning broadcaster, she has redefined what it means for communities to shape their own futures. From her groundbreaking work in the South Bronx to her national platform as an advocate for environmental justice and economic empowerment, Majora has spent her career challenging the idea that low-status neighborhoods are destined to remain so. She is the author of Reclaiming Your Community: You Don’t Have to Move Out of Your Neighborhood to Live in a Better One, a book that reframes neighborhood development as a pathway for residents to build prosperity where they already live. On The Sidewalk Ballet, Majora brings her trademark insight and candor to questions of community, resilience, and ownership. Our conversation explores how places—and the people who steward them—can unlock dignity, opportunity, and power in the face of daunting challenges. This episode is a compelling look at what it takes to not only reimagine our neighborhoods, but to reclaim them. ALSO Producer Abra Allan sits down with the team behind SF Black Wall Street, a grassroots organization working to preserve and strengthen San Francisco’s Black community through three powerful tenets — home ownership, business ownership, and Black spaces. Together they talk about the rebuilding of 1921, a “third place” for creativity, entrepreneurship, and dialogue that embodies both resilience and hope. The conversation explores what it means to reclaim place in a city where belonging itself can feel endangered—and how economic empowerment can become a foundation for cultural survival. Guest Links https://majoracartergroup.com/ https://SFBWSFoundation.org/ Episode Links https://boogiedowngrind.com/ https://lahainacommunitylandtrust.org/ https://ebprec.org/ https://homeboyindustries.org/

    56 min
  10. Revisiting Third Places with Karen Christensen

    11/04/2025

    Revisiting Third Places with Karen Christensen

    As we kick off the sidewalk ballet - a project dedicated to understanding cities and strengthening community - There is really no better place to start than at the neighborhood cafe, or the corner pub. Karen Christensen is an author, publisher, and community leader whose work spans culture, sustainability, and the power of networks. As the founder of Berkshire Publishing Group, she has long championed ideas and institutions that strengthen communities. Her forthcoming book, written in collaboration with Ray Oldenburg, revisits and reimagines the concept of the “third place” for today’s world. On The Sidewalk Ballet, Karen shares her perspective on why third places matter now more than ever. Our conversation explored themes of loneliness and isolation, the distinction between third places and public spaces, and the importance of creating space for conversation, plus her work on the encyclopedia of community. This episode will open the series with both depth and urgency, offering fresh insight from one of the voices carrying the legacy of The Great Good Place into a new century.

    1h 2m
  • 10 Episodes

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
7 Ratings

About

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.

Information

  • Creator
    Downtown Chip
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    10
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2025 All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    The Sidewalk Ballet