There is an interesting article here on what makes a community by the urban design team Holistic City. The piece is an good discussion on how urban designers can build physical infrastructre that helps to make a community happen. They identify six important factors:
- special places of easy contact (such as school gates in the diagram)
- encourage pedestrians rather than vehicle speed (bring back the benches on the Cally Rd)
- a sense of place/identity/belonging (is there a distinctive look and feel about the area)
- awareness of other people as a source of advice and help (knowing who to talk to)
- online communities to support real communities
- good local services.
It is very interesting stuff with much relevance to Kings Cross – both for the wave of peicemeal devleopment in which developers ofen want to lock their residents in fortresses and when we get to the detail of the major railway lands scheme in the next year or so.
Kings Cross Environment 
Dear Will
The Railway lands Group is holding a general meeting for members (and others can come and join on the door) on 31st january to report on the Campaign so far for a better development at King’s Cross Central and to consider the next steps. It would be a great help if you would drawattention to this in your excellent blog. Full details of the meetging on our web site, above. Michael