The Civic Brand with Ryan Short

In this on-bike interview, I connect with Ryan Short, founder of CivicBrand, for a tour around Boulder while we discuss his new book, The Civic Brand: The Power and Responsibility of Place.

Helpful Links (note that some may include affiliate links to help me support the channel):
👉 CivicBrand website
👉 Get your copy of the book
👉 CivicBrand on Instagram
👉 Ryan Short on LinkedIn
👉 Strong Towns website
👉 City Thread website
👉 Ryan Van Duzer's Channel
👉 Priority Bikes website
👉 Green Guru website
👉 My recent interview with Anna Zivarts about non-drivers and the week without driving challenge
👉 Walnut Cafe

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4. Make a donation to my non-profit, Advocates for Healthy Communities, Inc., to help support my pro bono work with cities

Credits:
- Video and audio production by John Simmerman
- Music via Epidemic Sound

Resources used during the production of this video:
- My recording platform is Ecamm Live
- Editing software Adobe Creative Cloud Suite
- Equipment: Contact me for a complete list

For more information about the Active Towns effort or to follow along, please visit our links below:
- Active Towns Website
- Active Towns on Bluesky
- Weekly Update e-Newsletter

Background:
Hi Everyone! My name is John Simmerman, and I’m a health promotion and public health professional with over 35 years of experience. Over the years, my area of concentration has evolved into a specialization in how the built environment influences human behavior related to active living and especially active mobility.

Since 2010,  I've been exploring, documenting, and profiling established, emerging, and aspiring Active Towns wherever they might be while striving to produce high-quality multimedia content to help inspire the creation of more safe and inviting, environments that promote a "Culture of Activity" for "All Ages & Abilities."

The Active Towns Channel features my original video content and reflections, including a selection of podcast episodes and short films profiling the positive and inspiring efforts happening around the world as I am able to experience and document them.

Thanks once again for tuning in! I hope you find this content helpful and insightful.

Creative Commons License: Attributions, Non-Commercial, No Derivatives, 2026

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What is Active Towns?

Conversations about Creating a Culture of Activity: Profiling the people, places, programs, and policies that help to promote a culture of activity within our communities.