Ghost of Midnight

Neighborhood Scale

Kevin Harris found an interesting item:

Here’s another take on the scale of neighbourhood, developed for work on children’s play:

‘Doorstep’ – 60m straight line distance from home (100m walking)
‘Neighbourhood’ – 260m straight line distance from home (400m walking)
‘Local’ – 600m straight line distance from home (1km walking)

This comes from a presentation given by Issy Cole-Hamilton of Play England, at a recent Neighbourhoods Green seminar.

This deliniation is similar to what we’ve found in our work with Front Porch Forum:

1. Borrow a cup of sugar distance… homes within site. Maybe 20-30 households.
2. Your neighborhood… several blocks around you. Maybe 200-300 households.
3. Your side of town… an area, more than a neighborhood. Maybe 2,000-3,000 households.

Our service is aimed at the second level. We get folks who want us to make it work at the first or third levels… but that’s not what we’re designed for. Too small, and the forum doesn’t acheive a critical mass of users and the conversations dies out. Too large, and the sense of intimacy doesn’t occur.