The Sidewalk Ballet

Pico - The District Dog

In this Small Block, Chip sits down with Nolan Marshall of the Social District in downtown Los Angeles to talk about Pico — the district’s “Canine Experience Officer” and an important member of the Ambassador team. What begins as a conversation about a dog quickly becomes something deeper: a conversation about place identity, emotional connection, and the surprisingly powerful role symbols can play in shaping how people relate to neighborhoods — and to each other. Some places become instantly recognizable through culture, history, food, music, or iconic public figures. But what happens when a district intentionally tries to create a face people can connect with? Through Pico, the Social District may have stumbled onto something more meaningful than branding: a vehicle for fun, recognition, and human-scale connection in the middle of a large and complicated city. It’s a short conversation about mascots… that turns out to be about community joy. Episode Links The Social District [https://lasocialdistrict.com/] PICO’s Corner [https://lasocialdistrict.com/picos-corner] Peacoat Project [https://www.instagram.com/peacoatproject/]

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 [https://www.mplsdid.com/] Minnesota Justice Research Center [https://www.mnjrc.org/] Block by Block [https://www.blockbyblock.com/] Downtown Community Storage [https://www.mplsdid.com/storage] Drone First Responder [https://www.droneresponders.org/] Axon Body Cam [https://www.axon.com/] IKE Smart City [https://www.ikesmartcity.com/] Civicity [https://civicity.com/] Stay Connected Occasional notes and ideas from Big Creative: sidewalkballet.com [https://sidewalkballet.com]

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 [https://www.susanhughes.ca/books] Kids Can Press [https://www.instagram.com/kidscanpress/] Valerie Boivin Illustration [https://www.instagram.com/valerieboivin_illustration/] Janes Walk [https://www.instagram.com/valerieboivin_illustration/] Jane’s Walk SF [https://sfslow.com] Support The Sidewalk Ballet If this work resonates, you can support the show: buymeacoffee.com/sidewalkballet [https://buymeacoffee.com/sidewalkballet] Stay Connected Occasional notes and ideas from Big Creative: sidewalkballet.com [https://sidewalkballet.com]

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 [https://www.allthingsurban.net/], 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 [https://janeswalk.org/], 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 [https://www.allthingsurban.net/] Geospatial-hub [https://www.geospatial-hub.com/] All Things Urban Free Newsletter Subscription [https://allthingsurban.us19.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=ac363a1e5edc822c7119d3d17&id=91388decea&EMAIL=] All Things Urban LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/company/allthingsurban/] Anastasia's LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/anastasia-sukhoroslova/] Local All Things Urban Chapters Application Form [https://forms.gle/xP8T4mw6LXFyNNfY7] Janes Walk [https://janeswalk.org/] Jane's Walk Portland Maine [https://janeswalkme.org/walk/imagine-peeing-here/] Lezlie Lowe on Sidewalk Ballet [https://www.sidewalkballet.com/episodes/lezlielowe] Jane’s Walk SF [https://sfslow.com] Support The Sidewalk Ballet If this work resonates, you can support the show: buymeacoffee.com/sidewalkballet [https://buymeacoffee.com/sidewalkballet] Stay Connected Occasional notes and ideas from Big Creative: sidewalkballet.com [https://sidewalkballet.com]

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 [https://www.tamikabutler.com/] Brian Taylor UCLA [https://taylor.its.ucla.edu/] Tracing the mobility experiences of youth in Westlake, Los Angeles [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17450101.2025.2512377] Ciclavia [https://www.ciclavia.org/] Comparing the L.A. Mobility Wallet and Low-Income Fare is Easy (LIFE) Programs [https://www.tamikabutler.com/writing/2025/6/4/beyond-transit-discounts-comparing-the-la-mobility-wallet-and-low-income-fare-is-easy-life-programs] http://www.jsadikkhan.com/ [http://www.jsadikkhan.com/] https://shade-la.com/seleta-reynolds/ [https://shade-la.com/seleta-reynolds/] https://www.metro.net/riding/ambassadors/ [https://www.metro.net/riding/ambassadors/] https://www.metro.net/2028games/ [https://www.metro.net/2028games/] Jay Pitter - Black Public Joy [https://www.jaypitter.com/publishedwork] Jay Pitter on Sidewalk Ballet [https://www.sidewalkballet.com/episodes/jay-pitter] https://filipeanut.art/the-jeepney-a-history-and-hopefully-a-future/ [https://filipeanut.art/the-jeepney-a-history-and-hopefully-a-future/] https://changing-transport.org/change-has-come-for-the-philippine-jeepneys/ [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 [https://buymeacoffee.com/sidewalkballet] Stay Connected Occasional notes and ideas from Big Creative: sidewalkballet.com [https://sidewalkballet.com]