Alex Zhu of the Baltimore Chamber of Connection

Alex Zhu of the Baltimore Chamber of Connection

What can be learned from one man's fight to make his city more welcoming and social?   Alex Zhu, founder of the Baltimore Chamber of Connection, is building a movement to help people feel more connected to their neighbors, their communities, and the city they call home. In this episode of Closer, Mark Wallace and Carol Coletta talk with Alex about pairing newcomers with Baltimore Ambassadors, supporting the people who bring communities together, and creating simple opportunities for connection—from neighborhood gatherings to sunset potlucks in Patterson Park. Together, they explore the vital role of hosts and public spaces, the challenge of funding social infrastructure, and how stronger relationships across lines of difference can produce healthier people and more resilient communities. It’s a conversation about belonging, civic life, and what it takes to build a city where everyone feels welcome.

Eric Larson of Detroit Downtown Partnership

If Detroit can reinvent itself, what can other cities learn from its example? Eric Larson, CEO of the Detroit Downtown Partnership, has spent more than three decades helping shape one of America's most remarkable urban comeback stories. In this episode of Closer, Mark Wallace and Carol Coletta talk with Eric about the role of public spaces, public-private partnerships, and civic leadership in transforming Detroit from a symbol of urban decline into a model for downtown revitalization. Together, they explore why some downtowns are thriving while others continue to struggle after the pandemic, why diversity of people, uses, and experiences is essential for resilient cities, and who is responsible for holding a city's long-term vision as administrations and corporate leaders come and go. It's a conversation about leadership, stewardship, and the investments that make cities not just more prosperous, but more social.

Carol Coletta - Dispatches from Europe

In this special episode, Carol Coletta returns from Europe with fresh ideas about district-scale development and the invisible nudges that can turn strangers into neighbors. Drawing on visits to Copenhagen's remarkable experiments in hybrid social infrastructure, Carol shares lessons from places that blur the line between community center, restaurant, park, and public square. Together, Mark and Carol explore what makes places like Folkehuset Absalon and Spor10 work, whether those models could succeed in American cities, and why context, density, and long-term civic vision matter so much in creating vibrant public life. The conversation also turns to a question every city should be asking: Who holds the civic vision for the future? Closer is a conversation about the strategies that make cities more social — and why that may be the smartest investment in the urban toolkit.

Juanita Hardy of the Urban Land Institute

What happens when artists are invited to shape a project from the very beginning, not simply asked to decorate it at the end? How can developers, architects, and artists work together to create places that are more authentic, more welcoming, and ultimately more valuable? Juanita Hardy, a longtime champion of creative placemaking and former vice chair of the Urban Land Institute's Placemaking Council, shares what she has learned about the role artists can play in shaping successful developments, public spaces, and communities. She also discusses a new Urban Land Institute report that makes the case for integrating artists into development teams from the earliest stages of a project. The conversation explores why creative placemaking creates value for developers, how artists can be meaningfully integrated into projects from the outset, and what it takes to move beyond predictable formulas to create places with a genuine sense of identity and belonging. Closer is a conversation hosted by Carol Coletta and Mark Wallace about the strategies that make cities more social, and why that is the smartest investment in the urban toolkit.

Tanja Mitchell of Mitchell Consulting, the "Mayor of Uptown" Memphis

What does it take to create a community where residents of different incomes, backgrounds, and experiences feel connected to one another? In this episode of CLOSER, Carol Coletta and Mark Wallace talk with Tanja Mitchell, President and CEO of Mitchell Consulting and the unofficial “Mayor of Uptown,” a mixed-income neighborhood in Memphis that has become a national model for community transformation. Tanja shares the lessons she learned helping guide Uptown from a struggling public housing community to a vibrant neighborhood where public housing residents, professionals, and families live side by side.Tanja offers a practical blueprint for creating neighborhoods where people feel seen, heard, and empowered to shape their future. CLOSER is a conversation hosted by Carol Coletta and Mark Wallace about the strategies that make cities more social—and why that is the smartest investment in the urban toolkit.