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Am I crazy or shouldn’t “districts” actually be composed of groups of people who are affected by legislation? An orthogonal approach could offer some solutions

Am I crazy or shouldn’t “districts” actually be composed of groups of people who are affected by legislation? An orthogonal approach could offer some solutions — such as degree of connectedness, approximated by number of roads. So, if we just cluster the most interconnected areas together, would that be unfair? Or is it just more gerrymandering?

twic 3y ago
FWIW these are the rules in the UK [1] (where districts are called constituencies): (1) A Boundary Commission may take into account, if and to such extent as they think fit – (a) special geographical considerations, including in particular the size, shape and accessibility of a constituency; (b) local government boundaries which exist, or are prospective, on the review date; (c) boundaries of existing constituencies; (d) any local ties that would be broken by changes in constituencies; (e) the inconveniences attendant on such changes. These do capture the idea of people being connected, but only in an extremely vague way. Probably more important is that the boundary commissions are designed to be politically neutral, and in practice, seem to be. I don't think i've ever heard complaints otherwise. [1] https://boundarycommissionforengland.independent.gov.uk/2023-review/guide-to-the-2023-review-of-parliamentary-constituencies/page/10/ https://boundarycommissionforengland.independent.gov.uk/2023...