Saved by Packy McCormick and
Small Spaces
Cities, then, are environments that are ripe for exaptation, because they cultivate specialized skills and interests, and they create a liquid network where information can leak out of those subcultures, and influence their neighbors in surprising ways.
Steven Johnson • Where Good Ideas Come From
Scale is quite valuable, but the costs are usually hidden. Consolidation leads to monoculture, it reduces the stock of unique ferments.
Culture, taste, and invention are often bottom-up phenomena. They require the opposite of scale. They require distance, and working alone.