How is your mayor doing? It sounds like a simple question. But how do we actually know which things happening in our cities deserve the credit—or the blame—of the people we elect?

Political scientist Justin de Benedictis-Kessner, author of The Fog of Accountability, joins Chip to explore why accountability in local government is so difficult: overlapping agencies and jurisdictions, limited information, fragmented responsibility, and the growing number of public, private, and nonprofit actors involved in making cities work.

Then the conversation moves from City Hall to something much smaller: there’s trash on the sidewalk. Who’s responsible for cleaning it up?

Morgan Berman, founder of Philadelphia-based Glitter, offers a different way into that question. Glitter gives neighbors a way to pool resources, create paid local work, and take direct action to care for the places they share. But if residents take responsibility for their own streets, does that empower communities—or let government off the hook?

In the Season Two finale of The Sidewalk Ballet, two conversations about accountability become a larger exploration of civic responsibility, collective agency, and what it means to shape a city.

Justin de Benedictis-Kessner

The FOG of Accountability

https://www.shareglitter.com/

instagram.com/peacoatproject

Street vending is everywhere in Mexico City. It is part of the city’s economy, its culture, and the everyday experience of its public spaces. But describing that work as simply “informal” misses much of what is actually happening.

Verónica Crossa is a geographer and professor at El Colegio de México whose research examines street vending, public space, and urban life. We met in Mexico City’s Parque Hundido to talk about the complicated systems that allow people to make a living in public space: the relationships between vendors and government, the politics of regulation and enforcement, and why the familiar divide between the “formal” and “informal” city may be a false one.

It’s a conversation rooted in Mexico City, but one that raises a much broader question: Who gets to work in public space, under what conditions, and what do the words we use to describe that work reveal about who—and what—we believe belongs there?

Verónica Crossa Niell Reading for difference on the street: De-homogenising street vending in Mexico CityResisting the Entrepreneurial City: Street Vendors’ Struggle in Mexico City’s Historic Center

Recorded at the International Downtown Association Annual Conference in Toronto, this bonus episode brings together voices from downtowns across North America. Chip asks a group of downtown leaders what’s exciting them about the the field of Urban Place Management, what’s happening in their own communities—and one question chosen at random. A quick, lively snapshot of the people working every day to make cities stronger, more welcoming, and more resilient.

https://downtown.org/event/2026-annual-conference/

How much of a city is the ground beneath our feet? Sidewalks, streets and plazas make up an enormous part of the urban landscape, but most of the time we barely notice them.

In this Small Block, Chelsea Ritter-Soronen explores what happens when we start paying attention. From pavement as a canvas for public art to its role in shaping the identity, comfort and climate of a city, we look at the possibilities hiding in plain sight. Chelsea shares what Ground Shift Studios is learning about heat-responsive materials and techniques—including lessons from a recent research trip to Japan—and how something as simple as throwing water on the sidewalk can become both a cooling strategy and a communal ritual.

https://www.iamchelsea.com/

https://www.groundshift.studio/

Arts in the Right-of-Way

Color the Curb

Southwest BID

US-Japan Foundation

Uchimizu

What does it mean to design for a city where space is scarce, change is relentless, and the people who live there are too often left out of the process?

Mumbai architect and urban designer Rahul Kadri joins The Sidewalk Ballet for a conversation about architecture as a tool for creating not just buildings, but healthier, more connected cities.

Rahul is Principal Architect and Partner at IMK Architects, the practice founded by his father, I. M. Kadri, and his work spans architecture, urban planning, housing, education, ecology, and public space. We talk about inheriting—and evolving—a significant architectural legacy; new approaches to Mumbai's housing and density challenges; designing places that encourage friendship and connection; and rethinking the design process itself to make it more collaborative and participatory.

And, of course, we talk about the Malabar Hill Forest Trail: an extraordinary elevated walkway winding through a long-inaccessible urban forest that Rahul first explored as a boy. What began during the pandemic as an idea for reclaiming a piece of his childhood has become one of Mumbai's most celebrated new public spaces—and a powerful example of what can happen when architects don't wait for a client to tell them what a city needs.

It's a conversation about who gets to shape the city, how architects can create the conditions for people to shape it together, and what it means to build for connection in one of the densest cities on Earth.

imkarchitects.com Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation Nepean Sea Road Citizens' Forum Architectural Digest Christopher Alexander Charles Moore SCRUM Diaspora Spice Co.

Don Lane likes ice cream.

A lot.

This July—National Ice Cream Month—the former three-time Santa Cruz mayor is taking to the road on a statewide quest to visit nearly 100 artisan ice cream shops, from San Diego to Eureka, one scoop at a time. Or probably two at a time.

But this isn't really a story about ice cream.

It's a story about citizenship, joy, and what happens when someone approaches every neighborhood as an advocate for the people who make it special.

In this Small Block, Chip joins Don for a few scoops, meets the people behind the counter, and explores how something as simple as an ice cream cone can become an act of community building.

Don's month-long California Ice Cream Tour is taking him to nearly 100 artisan ice cream shops across the state. Along the way, he's meeting shop owners, celebrating local businesses, and sharing his enthusiasm for the places that bring communities together.

On Sunday, July 19—National Ice Cream Day—that statewide adventure comes home to Santa Cruz with a public Scoop Crawl. Beginning at 3:00 p.m., participants will visit four beloved local shops—Mission Hill Creamery, Gran Gelato Caffè, Penny Ice Creamery, and Marianne's/Polar Bear—for an afternoon celebrating some of the city's sweetest institutions. Learn more about the Scoop Crawl in Edible Monterey Bay's feature on the event.

Don is also using the tour to raise funds for the Supporting Immigrants in Santa Cruz County Fund, which provides grants to trusted local organizations serving immigrant families with legal assistance, emergency support, education, and other essential services. If you'd like to support the effort, you can learn more or make a contribution through the Community Foundation Santa Cruz County.

Episode Links

Ice Cream Tour

The Scoop Crawl - July 19th

Penny Ice Creamery

Mission Hill Creamery

McConnells Ice Cream

An’s Dry Cleaning

Immigrants in Santa Cruz Supporting Fund