I suggested to a colleague recently that as part of our research on the contribution of the beach near our home to public life, we should do a networking map, showing the connections between the different people who come to the beach. He laughed, presumably imagining the same thing I did: a very messy diagram with an awful lot of lines. A friend at the beach who manages public housing in the U.K. told me about a hip hop instructor, whose class I later witnessed at the YMCA, and who I now see running at the beach. The owner of a beautiful ridgeback is, my colleague has informed me, a great singer; other beach personalities hope to organize an evening for him to sing. A German who has lived here for over 40 years points out a woman who invited me to a yoga class and tells me about her background. Whenever I pause to talk to someone, we find ourselves waving at the same people walking past. One beach friend invited me to her home for a meal; another handed me his keys one evening so I could walk his dog. I’m not sure I’ve ever lived in such a connected community before, but given that a big part of my job is promoting liveable cities, it sure feels good to experience one so I know firsthand what I’m struggling to achieve and how incredibly valuable it is!