The Sidewalk Ballet

Downtown Chip

The Sidewalk Ballet is an ongoing conversation about cities and the people who shape them. Inspired by Jane 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.

  1. Community Safety - with Shane Zahn

    1D AGO

    Community Safety - with Shane Zahn

    Downtowns exist in tension. Public and private. Civic and commercial. Open and managed. They are places where strangers negotiate coexistence in real time — and where questions around trust, authority, belonging, and safety become deeply visible. In this episode, Chip sits down with Shane Zahn, Director of Community Safety for the Minneapolis Downtown Council and Downtown Improvement District, for a thoughtful conversation about public safety, civic stewardship, and the evolving role of downtown organizations in one of the most scrutinized public environments in the country. Together, they explore the complicated space between public and private responsibility, how trust in institutions has shifted in recent years, and what it means to steward public space in communities where safety is experienced differently by different people. This conversation touches on: the evolving role of Business Improvement Districts legitimacy and accountability in public space safety as both operational and emotional infrastructure Minneapolis in the wake of George Floyd and Operation Metro Surge the challenge of rebuilding trust in complex civic systems More than a conversation about policing or enforcement, this episode asks a broader question: How do we steward public spaces people can trust? Episode Links Mpls Downtown Improvement District Minnesota Justice Research Center Block by Block Downtown Community Storage Drone First Responder Axon Body Cam IKE Smart City Civicity Stay Connected Occasional notes and ideas from Big Creative: sidewalkballet.com

    37 min
  2. SMALL BLOCKS - Jane Jacobs for the Young Reader - Susan Hughes

    MAY 4 ·  BONUS

    SMALL BLOCKS - Jane Jacobs for the Young Reader - Susan Hughes

    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.   Susan Hughes Kids Can Press Valerie Boivin Illustration Janes Walk Jane’s Walk SF Support The Sidewalk Ballet If this work resonates, you can support the show: buymeacoffee.com/sidewalkballet Stay Connected Occasional notes and ideas from Big Creative: sidewalkballet.com

    9 min
  3. A Global Network of Local Ideas — with Anastasia Sukhoroslova

    APR 28

    A Global Network of Local Ideas — with Anastasia Sukhoroslova

    Anastasia Sukhoroslova is an urbanist focused on connecting a global community of people shaping cities. Through her platform, All Things Urban, she has built a network that brings together practitioners, thinkers, and emerging voices from around the world—creating space to share ideas, tools, and perspectives across geographies and disciplines. Her work sits at the intersection of curiosity and connection, helping to expand what urbanism looks like and who gets to participate in it. On this episode we explore a deceptively simple question: what do we mean when we say “urbanism” today? The conversation moves between scales—from the street-level observations of Jane Jacobs to the global circulation of ideas shaping cities today. They discuss how urban ideas travel, the opportunities and risks that come with that speed, and the tension between sharing what works and understanding the context that makes it work. Along the way, they reflect on participation, authorship, and what it means to shape a place in an increasingly connected world. Released ahead of Jane's Walk, this episode also serves as a companion to a global moment rooted in local experience. Jane’s Walks take place in cities around the world—guided by the same spirit of curiosity and observation that defined Jacobs’ work—yet no two walks are the same. Each is shaped by the people who show up and the place they move through, offering a living example of how shared ideas are expressed locally. At its core, this episode reflects on the relationship between global thinking and local practice. Ideas about cities may travel further and faster than ever before, but they never arrive unchanged. The work of urbanism—like the sidewalk ballet Jacobs described—depends on paying attention, understanding context, and responding to the place in front of you. The frameworks may be shared, but the choreography always belongs to the place.   Episode Links All Things Urban Geospatial-hub All Things Urban Free Newsletter Subscription All Things Urban LinkedIn Anastasia's LinkedIn Local All Things Urban Chapters Application Form Janes Walk Jane's Walk Portland Maine Lezlie Lowe on Sidewalk Ballet Jane’s Walk SF Support The Sidewalk Ballet If this work resonates, you can support the show: buymeacoffee.com/sidewalkballet Stay Connected Occasional notes and ideas from Big Creative: sidewalkballet.com

    59 min
  4. tamika l. butler, Transportation, Access and Equity

    APR 14

    tamika l. butler, Transportation, Access and Equity

    In a thoughtful and deeply human conversation, tamika l. butler reflects on what it means to build systems that serve people over time. From transportation justice and community trust to the role of joy in public life, Tamika offers a powerful reminder that better systems don’t emerge overnight. They require patience, courage, and a belief that the work of making cities more equitable is always worth doing—even in difficult times. The conversation touches on experimentation in transportation, good community engagement that isn’t project specific, and preparing for, and leveraging, the 2028 Olympic and Para-Olympic games The episode also travels to the Philippines where Abra, rides Jeepneys and local for-hire vehicles, with the help of a young local named Jovan. Through conversations with drivers and riders, the episode explores a transportation system built from the ground up: improvised, adaptive, deeply personal, and woven into daily life. What begins as a story about jeepneys becomes something larger—a reflection on how movement, culture, economics, and global forces all intersect in the systems that carry us. From linking postwar necessity with opportunity, to today’s modernization pressures and fuel costs shaped by events far beyond Dumaguete, The episode explores how transportation systems come to be, and who is involved with shaping them.   Episode Links tamika l butler Brian Taylor UCLA Tracing the mobility experiences of youth in Westlake, Los Angeles Ciclavia Comparing the L.A. Mobility Wallet and Low-Income Fare is Easy (LIFE) Programs http://www.jsadikkhan.com/ https://shade-la.com/seleta-reynolds/ https://www.metro.net/riding/ambassadors/ https://www.metro.net/2028games/ Jay Pitter - Black Public Joy Jay Pitter on Sidewalk Ballet https://filipeanut.art/the-jeepney-a-history-and-hopefully-a-future/ https://changing-transport.org/change-has-come-for-the-philippine-jeepneys/ Support The Sidewalk Ballet If this work resonates, you can support the show: buymeacoffee.com/sidewalkballet Stay Connected Occasional notes and ideas from Big Creative: sidewalkballet.com

    1 hr
  5. Retail Round-up - Michael Berne and Jaime Izurieta - with Josh Yeager

    MAR 31

    Retail Round-up - Michael Berne and Jaime Izurieta - with Josh Yeager

    Retail is often treated as a category—something to optimize, disrupt, or replace. But long before it was an industry, exchange was one of the original reasons cities existed at all. In this episode, we explore how retail is evolving on the ground—and why it still matters for the health of our streets and downtown districts. Guest host Josh Yeager is joined by retail strategist Michael Berne and storefront expert Jaime Izurieta for a wide-ranging conversation that blends big-picture thinking with real-world insight. From dwell time and the growing importance of hospitality, to the realities of what makes a storefront succeed, this episode stays rooted in how retail actually works today. And throughout the conversation, a deeper idea keeps surfacing: Even as retail changes, its role in shaping how we experience cities hasn’t gone away. Episode Links Michael J Berne Consulting Website: www.consultmjb.com Speaking / Writing Website: www.michaeljberne.com Retail Contrarian Blog: https://michaeljberne.com/articles-essays/ Jaime Izurieta https://storefrontmastery.com/ https://storefrontmastery.substack.com/ Josh Yeager https://www.bright-brothers.com/ Additional Links Conrad Kickert https://www.the-independent.com/life-style/health-and-families/coffee-shops-starbucks-dunkin-hipster-b2936556.html strategic horizons Union Square sf International Downtown Association Glossary BID- Business Improvement District CVB - Conference (or Convention) and Visitors Bureau  Support The Sidewalk Ballet If this work resonates, you can support the show: buymeacoffee.com/sidewalkballet Stay Connected Occasional notes and ideas from Big Creative: sidewalkballet.com

    1h 2m
  6. Evan Weissman - Warm Cookies of the Revolution

    MAR 10

    Evan Weissman - Warm Cookies of the Revolution

    To close out Season One of The Sidewalk Ballet, we turn to a conversation about showing up. Across cities everywhere, civic engagement has become increasingly distant — shaped by professionalized systems, complex processes, and a sense that participation is reserved for those who already know how to navigate it. For many people, the question isn’t whether they care about their city, but whether there is a meaningful way to be involved. In this season finale, Chip sits down with Evan Weissman, founder of Warm Cookies of the Revolution, to explore what civic life can look like when the invitation is wider, more human, and rooted in joy. For more than a decade, Warm Cookies has created spaces where people can engage with public issues not as experts or insiders, but as neighbors — lowering barriers, building confidence, and reminding people that participation is something you practice, not something you earn. The conversation touches on civic engagement as a skill that strengthens with use, the importance of local spaces as places to try, learn, and belong, and the role of humor and play in making participation feel possible again. The episode closes with a reflection on the season as a whole, weaving together voices and ideas from across twelve episodes to arrive at a shared understanding: cities are shaped not just by plans and policies, but by the people who show up for them. Civic life works best when more people see themselves as part of it.   Episode Links Warm Cookies of the Revolution Big Creative Consulting Erika Chong Shuch   Support The Sidewalk Ballet If this work resonates, you can support the show: buymeacoffee.com/sidewalkballet Stay Connected Occasional notes and ideas from Big Creative: sidewalkballet.com

    41 min
  7. Breonna McCree - Transgender District

    FEB 24

    Breonna McCree - Transgender District

    San Francisco’s Tenderloin has always been more than its headlines. Long treated as a containment zone, it has also been a refuge — a place where marginalized communities found belonging, built culture, and made public life possible in spite of neglect, oppression and disinvestment. In 1966, that history erupted inside a cafeteria at Turk and Taylor. The Compton’s Cafeteria Riot is often told as a single night of resistance. But like most movements, it began long before that moment — and it didn’t end there. Today, the site of that uprising is owned by one of the largest private prison contractors working with ICE. Which raises a complicated question: what does it mean to honor a place if you don’t control it? In this episode, Chip speaks with Breonna McCree, Co-Director of San Francisco’s Transgender District, about what it means to move from being tolerated in a neighborhood… to claiming it. The conversation weaves together history, policy, art, and activism to explore how cities remember — and who gets to decide what stays. The Transgender District is a formally recognized cultural district in the Tenderloin, created to honor, protect, and sustain a neighborhood that has long been a center of transgender life, community, and resistance. Breonna and Chip explore what a district actually is and does, how this particular place came to be named, and why formal recognition matters, how neighborhoods carry history long before they’re officially acknowledged, and what it takes to turn lived experience into lasting civic infrastructure.   Transgender District   Susan Stryker Compton’s Cafeteria Riot Tenderloin Museum Screaming Queens Tenderloin Community Benefit District Glide Memorial Crossroads of Turk and Taylor Comptons x Coalition TurkxTaylor Initiative Miss Major SF Black Wall Street   Support The Sidewalk Ballet If this work resonates, you can support the show: buymeacoffee.com/sidewalkballet Stay Connected Occasional notes and ideas from Big Creative: sidewalkballet.com

    1h 9m
  8. Lezlie Lowe - No Place to Go! - Episode 10

    FEB 11

    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 Support The Sidewalk Ballet If this work resonates, you can support the show: buymeacoffee.com/sidewalkballet Stay Connected Occasional notes and ideas from Big Creative: sidewalkballet.com

    1h 8m
See All (17)

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
8 Ratings

About

The Sidewalk Ballet is an ongoing conversation about cities and the people who shape them. Inspired by Jane 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
    17
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2025 All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    The Sidewalk Ballet

You Might Also Like