Sidewalk Ballet
The Sidewalk Ballet is an ongoing conversation about cities and the people who shape them.
Inspired by Jane Jacobs' phrase, the show explores urbanism, placemaking, public space, civic life, downtowns, and community building through conversations with city leaders, designers, organizers, artists, researchers, and residents.
Together we examine how communities foster belonging, wellness, sustainability, democracy, and justice—and how people navigate the challenges of coexistence in shared spaces.
From neighborhood parks to main streets, from housing and transportation to art and culture, The Sidewalk Ballet is about the places we share and the people who help shape them.
Listen on:
Episodes
Tuesday Nov 04, 2025
Tuesday Nov 04, 2025
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
Support The Sidewalk BalletIf this work resonates, you can support the show:buymeacoffee.com/sidewalkballet
Stay ConnectedOccasional notes and ideas from Big Creative:sidewalkballet.com
Tuesday Nov 04, 2025
Tuesday Nov 04, 2025
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/
Support The Sidewalk BalletIf this work resonates, you can support the show:buymeacoffee.com/sidewalkballet
Stay ConnectedOccasional notes and ideas from Big Creative:sidewalkballet.com
Tuesday Nov 04, 2025
Tuesday Nov 04, 2025
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.
Support The Sidewalk BalletIf this work resonates, you can support the show:buymeacoffee.com/sidewalkballet
Stay ConnectedOccasional notes and ideas from Big Creative:sidewalkballet.com