In this episode, you’ll meet Tom Flood, Grant Ennis, and Brent Toderian, the founders of Urban Truth Collective: Delivering the truth about cities in an age of disinformation and flat-out lies by bad actors and organized interests with a vested interest in maintaining the status quo of car dependency.

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
👉 Buy Dark PR from the Active Towns Bookshop here or from Amazon here
👉 My episode with Diane Alisa that I referenced
👉 Brent’s website
👉 My Pocket Neighborhood’s episode with Ross Chapin
👉 ICYMI Here’s my most recent episode with Chuck Marohn
👉 ICYMI Here’s my most recent episode with Prof. Wes Marshall
👉 My episode with Lanrick Bennett
👉 My episode with Clarence Eckerson, Jr.
👉 My episode with Reena Mahajan
(Note: I misspoke during the episode. Reena has not lived or worked in the UAE or Scotland, so sorry Reena for the mix-up)

Thank you so much for tuning in! If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend and be sure to subscribe to the Active Towns Channel on YouTube for more content, or if you prefer, you can find and subscribe to the Pod on most major Podcatcher listening platforms.

If you are a fan of the Active Towns Podcast, please consider supporting the effort as an Active Towns Ambassador in the following ways:
1. Join our Patreon community. Contributions start at just $3 per month
2. If you enjoyed this episode, you can also “leave a tip” through “Buy Me a Coffee”
3. 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
– Periodic e-Newsletter

Background:
Hi Everyone! My name is John Simmerman, and I’m a health promotion and public health professional with over 30 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