CivicBrand

02/24/2026

Most place decisions are made with incomplete insight.

Budgets get set and projects move forward, but the insight behind them rarely connects identity, behavior, and economic performance in one clear view.

That’s why we’re excited to introduce CivicBrand SIGNAL.

“Research has always been a part of our work,” said Banner Short, Co-Founder of CivicBrand. “CivicBrand SIGNAL reflects a deeper commitment to helping place leadership measure what matters most so they can confidently move forward.”

CivicBrand SIGNAL is our expanded applied research practice, designed to help place leaders measure what truly shapes identity, behavior, and results so they can act with clarity and confidence.

It’s organized around three core lenses:

CONNECTION
How people experience, relate to, and trust a place. Identity, belonging, alignment, and perception.

MOVEMENT
Traffic counts, pedestrian activity, and location data that reveal how people physically move through place and where opportunity exists.

IMPACT
How place strategy influences economic performance, investment decisions, and long term resilience.

This is not research for research’s sake. It is grounded in rigorous analysis and real data. It is designed to guide policy, shape investment, align stakeholders, and translate identity into measurable outcomes.

CivicBrand SIGNAL will also publish original research exploring the forces shaping communities and local economies available for free download.

Places that measure what matters lead with clarity.

08/28/2025

I’m excited to share that my first book, The Civic Brand: The Power and Responsibility of Place, comes out September 30.

This book grew out of seventeen years of working with communities of all sizes and is a call to rethink how we approach city planning, tourism, economic development, and community engagement so that we can create healthy, sustainable places that work for everyone.

I’m deeply grateful to Charles Marohn of Strong Towns for writing the foreword and believing in this project. His support means the world, and I hope the ideas in this book unite the important conversations he’s been leading for years.

The Civic Brand is a bold but practical call to city leaders, planners, business owners, developers, and residents to recognize the power, and responsibility, we all hold in shaping our places.

📖 You can preorder today (link in comments).

📦 Bulk orders are available if you’d like to share it with your team, board, community, or classroom. Send your city council a copy!

And in this algorithm-driven world, the small things make a big difference. Here are ways you can support this project and movement around place:

Like & share posts

Add it to your “Want to Read” list on Goodreads

Preorder a copy today at https://civicbrand.com/book

And the holy grail - leave a review when it’s out!

I’m so thankful for any and all support, it means more than you know. 🙏🏼

07/28/2025

Just wrapped up editing photos from our project trip and shoot in Boone, NC - what an amazing mountain town! Had to share a few favorites. Grateful for the people, the views, and the energy this place brings. 📸🏔️

01/20/2025

CivicBrand co-founder Ryan Short will be speaking at the City Nation Place Americas conference which will take place in Ottawa, Canada’s capital city, on May 21st & 22nd. CivicBrand will be announcing some exciting new things leading up to and at the event and we hope you can attend!

In addition to Ryan’s session, we are excited that a couple of our clients will also be speaking including Kelly Groff of Visit Montgomery, MD as well as Casey Ressler of the Mat-Su Alaska CVB.

09/27/2024

New implementation work from our Pine County, Minnesota branding project.

06/27/2024

Trip 1 in the Mat-Su Valley, Alaska is in the books! We are working with this amazing region on a tourism brand strategy to ensure it’s sustainable and benefits the locals.

We had a fantastic week exploring the Matanuska Susitna Valley from helicopter rides to glaciers, Musk Ox Farm, Hatcher pass and Independence mine, Brewery tours, jet boats rides, historical tours, and just getting to meet the amazing people that call this place home.

06/23/2024

We just wrapped a week in Orange, CA to kick off a district placemaking & branding project.

The goal is to develop an identity and placemaking action plan for the district to capitalize on the adjacent redevelopment around the Honda Center (where the Ducks play) and Angel Stadium (where Angels play).

We conducted multiple walkshops and had a great visioning workshop with district property owners.

🍊 😎

06/18/2024

New trail accessibility projects in Breckenridge coming out of the Open Space & Trails Master Plan we developed!

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“It is kind of a new direction we are heading in with our new open space and master plan,” Overlock said. “We are really trying to figure out how we can make our open spaces fit into (diversity, equity and inclusion).”

One of the major avenues that the town of Breckenridge has already circled as a way to address diversity, equity and inclusion is through improving the trail’s accessibility and signage.

“Any user coming to that trail can read the sign and figure out for themselves if the trail is suitable to them,” Overlock said. “They will know the cross slope, the length, duration, trail surface, if there are any rest stops or obstacles.”

Breckenridge Open Space and Trails plans to complete additional “all-person” trail projects throughout the next few months, including the completion of a trail to an overlook area at Cucumber Gulch. Throughout the construction process at Trollstigen Trail, sections of the loop trail will remain open to the public.

https://www.summitdaily.com/news/breckenridge-troll-accessibility/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR3yRCPO8ZSSMGiZ63uSeftFqGwGaxvV9WJgjqg6Gpcus7_J4SoByJLyRcA_aem_nCFWM36QocX_sX77PjOVkA

Trollstigen Trail, which leads to the legendary Breckenridge troll sculpture, has been under construction since Monday, June 10, in order to make the popular path more accessible to all of its users. Isak Heartstone, the...

05/15/2024

Thank you to everyone that attended our session at City Nation Place Americas today - great conversations afterwards and looking forward to connecting with everyone that is reaching out!

04/16/2024

Our client, The City of High Point, North Carolina, has been named a finalist in The 75th annual All-America City Award Event which will be held in Denver, CO from June 7-9. This event recognizes communities that leverage civic engagement, collaboration, inclusiveness, and innovation to successfully address local issues.

We're very proud of our work in High Point that has contributed to the many great things they are doing and we're excited to see them recognized this June in Denver!

High Point, renowned as the Home Furnishings Capital of the World, has a storied history dating back to the early 1900s when it emerged as a hub for furniture production. Today, it remains vibrant, boasting prestigious institutions like High Point University and renowned events like the High Point M...

04/12/2024

Just wrapped our first week on the ground at MIT!

Public engagement, visioning, and placemaking for an inspiring space on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus designed by the legendary architect I.M. Pei and Sasaki.

I.M. Pei’s dorm room, in the 1930’s, over looked a large parking lot and he was able to return in the 60’s and completely redesign the space and multiple iconic buildings into the amazing space that it remains today. We are tasked with engaging students and staff to develop the vision for the next 60 years in a way that meets the needs of twenty-first-century open space users while respecting the twentieth-century modernist design heritage.

To help spark imagination we designed experiential engagement signs (that we loved watching people walk through and engage with!) which we placed around campus, printed custom die-cut flyers, interactive engagement boards, and conducted “walkshops” as walking focus groups where we shared historical architecture facts about the site while getting feedback from students on their ideas for evolving the space.

An honor beyond words to contribute to such an iconic space!

🏛️✨