In this episode, I reconnect with Tom Flood and Grant Ennis and meet Brent Toderian to discuss their new collaborative effort, the Urban Truth Collective: The truth about cities in an age of disinformation.
Helpful Links (note that some may include affiliate links to help me support the channel):
👉 The Urban Truth Collective website
👉 The Urban Truth Collective on Bluesky
👉 The Urban Truth Collective on Instagram
👉 The Urban Truth Collective on LinkedIn
👉 Rovelo Creative, Tom Flood's website
👉 My most recent episode with Tom
👉 Dark PR episode with Grant Ennis
👉 Brent's website
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1. Become an Active Towns Member on YouTube for exclusive member-only content and Livestreams
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3. If you enjoyed this episode, you can also "leave a tip" through "Buy Me a Coffee"
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