This morning the school bus driver waved at me as I walked the dog. When I meet people on the trail with the dog, the form is to stop and say a few words. Knowlton, population 5,600, is at a scale where you cannot ignore people.
Asking for a plumber - having a problem installing the washing machine - my goto guy Dennis at the General Store - Barnes - called a pal and gave our address as "pres de Mdme Blackwood". Having a General Store that has EVERYTHING and using this kind of addressing is also a sign of "Right Scale"
So as many of us seek better and healthier communities, my move to Knowlton has brought a key fact up. Size matters. There is a gradient of population size that drives a personal response.
The school bus driver and Dennis don't know me. But I elicit this response not because of anything about me but because of the size of the community.
So in Toronto, the norm is to put on social armour to protect us from the overwhlem of all the people.
I bet that there is a gradient here as there is for social groupings. As we struggle to design community, we will need to find out what this scale is.
Any thoughts?
