San Francisco is a great city for that, because it is very walkable (if you have the energy to manage its steep hills). There is a close connection between urb

San Francisco is a great city for that, because it is very walkable (if you have the energy to manage its steep hills). There is a close connection between urban architecture and whether or not community building can take place, and sadly, many places are not like it. Kunstler's TED talk is a fantastic way to become more aware of that topic: https://www.ted.com/talks/james_howard_kunstler_the_ghastly_tragedy_of_the_suburbs https://www.ted.com/talks/james_howard_kunstler_the_ghastly_... His thesis is some of the US must be torn down to rebuild it in a friendlier community-enabling way. Curiously, to the OP's "stoop coffee" topic, he already recognized the communicative potential/value of the space in front of houses, and he points out that old European cities "got that right" (and having a central market square, too).