It's both ironic and instructional that South By Southwest 2018 presented a panel on "Branded Cities" as part of its growing Cities Summit programming. After all, during the nine days in mid-March when the hydra-headed conference takes over our central city, the branding iron of commerce is hot in downtown Austin and beyond. Empty lots sprout into promotional tent cities adorned with logos, existing buildings and venues get similarly festooned and transformed, and modes of transport are slapped with corporate . . .
