One thing I think the Somewheres amongst should more actively attend to is the loss of regional identity and expression within governance infrastructure - we often just have a simple space from the micro local directly to the centre with less and less in between

The loss or vastly diminished presence of county identity is probably the best example - beyond local governance (where it is run along efficiency lines rather than historic identity) it is practically obsolete

County teams within sports is one example, used to be a much bigger thing than now, which gave both civic pride and identity but also the infrastructure to sustain it - now too often gets subsumed into those ridiculous, ahistoric, counter-intuitive 'regions' or standalone clubs

Universities could/should work in this way too (and in sone places do tbf) - but often these are oases dotted on to an otherwuse anonymous landscape, attached to the city they sit in rather than the particular place they serve

Partly thiscm is because the simple space fron local to centre is more efficient, partly because improving tech enables it, partly because the professionalisation of instiutions severs the Somewhere-ness and so geography becomes less a determining factor in function or identity

But anyway if we want to revive the civic space then start with the counties, that's all I'm saying. And not just in a ceremonial 'ooh look at the lovely flag' kind of way, but on practical organisation issues too