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HR – The Math of Healthy Community

by Rob Paterson

March 11, 2010 at 2:00 pm · Filed under 2.0 Business Model, 2.0 Design Thinking, Chaord, Organizational Design, Robin Dunbar

Many of us are starting to see that there is math that underpins human community – The Dunbar Number and related math that defines the hierarchies of trust are gaining credence as being “real“.

I think that they should be: for surely all else in Nature that is about relationships has math? Light, Gravity, Water and Heat etc. So why would there not be Math that supports how Human Relationships work?

I was re-reading my favourite text the other day – Christopher Alexander’s Pattern Language – and I was stunned, but not surprised, to learn that not only do we humans have a gradient of Trust governed by math but that there are limits in the physical space as well beyond which, we fall out of community. Naturally these limits are hardly known, least of all by architects and maybe hardly at all by any of us who wish to design a physical space that promotes a healthy human community.

Alexander brings up this topic in the section on Small Public Squares (Pattern 61). He asks why so many public squares are dead space?

Here is the Space Magic Number #1 – 70.

We cannot make out another face much over 70 feet away
We cannot hear another person properly over 70 feet away

Any space that exceeds this – Piazza San Marco and Trafalgar are exceptions because they are a nexus in a large city and get filled to the right density – feels un social.

So here is Space Magic Number #2 – 300

Any space with more than 300 square feet per person will feel “deserted”
So a space with a diameter of 100 feet needs 33 people in it to feel ok
So a space with a diameter of 35 feet needs only 4
A space with 60 feet needs only 12
It’s hard to get 33 or more people into a public space at any one time – it is much easier to get 4

I wonder – do these numbers then tie into what we know about group satisfaction – (Chris Allen)

GroupSatisfaction

My bet is that there must be a link between these two sets of numbers.

Forming the best groups in the best spaces will surely have an impact on the power of these groups. This then raises another question. Might getting the group size and the group space optimized have an impact on group power?

Do these numbers have any connection with Adoption?

adoptioncurvebest

Might knowing more about ideal groups and ideal spaces address the question that we all have – How can I optimize my power in the world?

Our model until now has been to use money as a substitute for social power.

Are we close now to seeing the Social Power Model? I think so.

In my follow up post to this, I will share a Fractal Model of how we have found social adoption to work in a university setting. If this is Fractal, then the social design we see in a University should match all fields of social groupings.

We may be getting close.

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rzrMarch 11th, 2010 at 7:17 pm

If you’re in to understanding human behavior in the aggregate, check out ‘Critical Mass’, by Philip Ball: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0374530416

thanks for the great blog…

rzr

Jon HusbandMarch 12th, 2010 at 1:08 am

Any space that exceeds this – Piazza San Marco and Trafalgar are exceptions because they are a nexus in a large city and get filled to the right density – feels un social.

The main plaza in Barcelona .. just at the head of Las Ramblas .. is much larger and always buzzing with social activity.

I understand your point here, but I suspect that there are a number of exceptions, for what are probably discernible reasons such as culture or strategic location, etc.

Rob PatersonMarch 12th, 2010 at 5:22 am

Jon you are right there are exceptions and CA points them out – He adds another factor that a healthy space has mini spaces on the edge – cafes etc – but int he case of San Marco in Florence, Barcelona etc the entire city is drawn – culture, design???

But on a routine basis, I think he has got a point

Rob PatersonMarch 12th, 2010 at 5:23 am

RZR thanks for the pointer – I am off to get a copy