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

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

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