Closer with Carol Coletta and Mark Wallace

In this episode of CLOSER, Carol Coletta and Mark Wallace talk with Tony Sorrentino, President and CEO of Fairmount Park Conservancy in Philadelphia. Tony explains how the Conservancy supplements the city’s resources through fundraising, planning, ecological restoration, historic preservation, and public programming. The conversation explores who should pay for beauty and innovation in public spac...

Can a simple walk change how we see our city and one another? In this episode of CLOSER, Carol Coletta and Mark Wallace talk with Laura Conley, founder of Urban Paths. For 15 years, Laura has led walks across Houston that bring people together through movement, nature, public art, connection, and the practice of noticing. Laura explains how group walking can do more than support physical and menta...

Parks aren’t just amenities. They’re essential city infrastructure. In this episode of Closer, Carol Coletta and Mark Wallace talk with Catherine Nagel, longtime executive director of City Parks Alliance, about the evolving role of urban parks and the legacy of her more than two decades of leadership. How can parks address challenges ranging from public health and climate resilience to economic de...

How often do major investments in civic space fall short of their potential for lack of a few small enhancements? And why are private pools so much more beautiful and inviting  than our public ones? In this episode of Closer, Carol Coletta and Mark Wallace talk with Ben Bryant, senior associate at Interface Studio, about Philadelphia’s Pop-Up Pool Project. Supported by the Knight Foundation, the p...

Bringing diverse people together in a public space is important, but recent research indicates that proximity alone does not create new connections. In this episode of Closer, Dr. Leigh Graham, senior advisor for innovation research at the Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation at Johns Hopkins University shares early insights from research and pilots in parks across the country.  Dr. Graham has b...

Where does extraordinary come from, especially when so much of what gets built doesn’t come close? In this episode of Closer, cultural anthropologist Sandra Kulli draws on four decades of work with developers around the world to reveal how small changes can produce big results over time. Her approach begins with three questions: Where are you today? What is missing? And what would you never give u...

Is it possible to work at a systems-wide level, recognize how deeply interconnected our world is, and still avoid being paralyzed by its complexity?  In this episode of Closer, Carol Coletta and Mark Wallace talk with Kate Orff, founding principal of SCAPE and the first landscape architect to receive a MacArthur Fellowship. Kate explains why parks, greenways, coastlines, and living ecosystems shou...

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, supp...

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 tran...

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 Ca...

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 Counc...

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 transformatio...

“A second of love is a game changer; it is the beginning of a paradigm shift.” In this episode of Closer, Carol Coletta and Mark Wallace talk with Michael Van Valkenburgh, one of the most influential landscape architects of our time. Through projects ranging from neighborhood playgrounds to some of North America's most celebrated parks, Michael has helped shape the way people experience cities whi...

Is it possible for a city to be both flexible and intentional?  How can a fast-growing city create public spaces that invite people to spend time together? In this episode of Closer, Carol Coletta and Mark Wallace talk with Rebekah Jane (RJ) Justice, the Chief of Urban Design and Development for the City of Knoxville about how cities can grow without losing the qualities that make people love them...

Have we optimized ourselves into loneliness?  What if the antidote to social isolation isn’t technology or convenience, but shared meals, table tennis, and a little intentional friction? In this episode of CLOSER, Carol Coletta and Mark Wallace talk with Lennart Lajboschitz, founder of Absalon, the beloved Copenhagen community house that welcomes nearly 600,000 visitors a year. Built inside a form...

Two radical ideas: everyone is an artist and making art together can bring us together.  In this episode of Closer, Carol Coletta and Mark Wallace talk with Josephine Ramirez, a veteran arts funder and nonprofit leader whose career includes senior roles at The Music Center and the James Irvine Foundation. Why has the arts world drawn such sharp lines between “artists” and everyone else? And what i...

What does it take to unlock creativity in communities that already have deep social bonds? And why it a good strategy to leave a park unfinished? In this episode of Closer, Carol Coletta and Mark Wallace talk with Leah Houston, founder and executive director of Mabelle Arts in Toronto’s Mabelle Park, where artists and residents collaborate to design, build, and program public space together. Her w...

What does it take to turn forgotten infrastructure into places people love? And how are parks and public space leaders growing a movement to truly bring people together?   In this episode of Closer, Carol Coletta and Mark Wallace talk with Bridget Marquis and Kira Strong, two national leaders shaping the future of public space.   Kira Strong is Executive Director of the Highline Network, a coaliti...

What happens when art leaves the theater and shows up on the street? Why are some planners afraid of the public? And what can cities learn from the way artists see the world? In this episode of Closer, Carol Coletta and Mark Wallace talk with Ryan Meyers Johnson, Executive Director of Sidewalk Detroit, about how art, choreography, and small experiments in public space can transform the way people...

What does it take to turn a city’s overlooked assets into its greatest strengths? In this episode of Closer, Carol Coletta and Mark Wallace talk with Daniel Rice, President & CEO of the Ohio & Erie Canalway Coalition. Dan shares how Akron shifted moved away from “whale hunting” for big corporate wins to investing in parks, trails, and public spaces as core economic strategy. He reflects on...

How much can a community learn from a one-day project, and can a short-term experiment change the trajectory of a city? In this episode of Closer, Carol Coletta and Mark Wallace talk with Krista Nightengale, Executive Director of Better Block. Krista shares how to lower the barriers to participation, why experimentation beats perfection, and how creating moments of shared experience can transform...

What if the key to building community in a city is throwing a great party? In this episode of Closer, Carol Coletta and Mark Wallace talk with Detroit’s self-described “garbage man,” Matt Naimi, whose recycling center unexpectedly became one of the city’s most vibrant civic spaces. What began as Recycle Here!evolved into the Lincoln Street Art Park and eventually Dreamtroit, a mixed-use community...

Omar Blaik, CEO of U3 Advisors and recipient of the Edmund Bacon Urban Design Award, has spent his career helping anchor institutions transform struggling neighborhoods into thriving urban districts. In this episode, Carol Coletta and Mark Wallace explore why markets rarely fix distressed neighborhoods on their own, how strategies like “buy local, hire local, live local” can create new urban vital...

Josh McManus, co-founder of M|B|P|, is a driving force behind transformational work in misunderstood cities from Jackson to Chattanooga to Detroit and beyond. How can organizations on-the-ground achieve transformational impact at scale?  Carol Coletta and Mark Wallace talk about weaving together big corporate bets with grassroots leadership. Josh shares lessons on leadership, regeneration, and why...

Coffee shop as social glue?  That’s what co-owner and managing partner Betsy Murdoch has created at The Congregation in Detroit. And its popularity keeps growing. Closer is a conversation hosted by Carol Coletta and Mark Wallace about the strategies that make cities social – and why that’s the smartest investment in the urban toolkit.