These distinct levels interact and relate in ways systems theory describes as layered systems.

PLANET	A collection of continents, oceans, and air.
CONTINENT & OCEAN	A continent is a geo-mass with fresh water and bio-features. A continent may contain one or more nations. Continental entities handle disasters, track and research diseases in unique animal populations, offer earthquake relief, prevent deforestation, control non-native species, etc. An ocean the opposite of a continent - a water mass with islands. Marine entities handle rescues, oceanographic research. Island ... is land? Ocean islands can be any of the sub-continental levels, i.e. an island nation, island region, etc. [Further compare the duplicity of land and water].
NATION	A collection of regions. A nation may consist of or be augmented by a group of islands. Nations are cultural entities with laws that bind their regions together. A nation is not just land, people, and government. The nation might be mono or multi-cultural, political simple or complex. The model may offer some national patterns. Other people (organizations) are developing sustainability and economice patterns.
REGION	A collection of areas and and natural systems. A natural system is uninhabited, forest, desert, lakes, mountains, hills, plains, or open ocean. [bio-geographic aspect; what defines its extent] [cultural aspect] [support aspect; what a region does for its constituent areas]
AREA	A distinct area of land -- a rural area, a marine area, or an urban area (metropolitan area, large city), recreational area, industrial area, native reserves, and military reserves. Regional prisons should be in small "protection" areas. CITY (URBAN AREA) An urban area is the large-scale built environment, a large city, a metropolitan area, a sprawl of urban development. A large city may be a constellation of city centers. A small city may be only a collection of towns. There are culture landscapes within cities and recreational areas., while other kinds of areas have mostly administrative needs (planning, management, operations). COUNTRY (RURAL AREA) A rural area can be agricultural farmland, forest, desert, or any of a number of kinds of natural areas. Rural towns, rural communities, rural villages, and rural neighborhoods exist without being near a city, but they are contained in a rural area.
TOWN	The urban (i.e. downtown) and suburban parts of a city. A town can also be a singular rural town (smaller scale geographic & built environment). A town may consist of one or more communities.
COMMUNITY	A collection of villages with a business district, a post office, larger commons. A giant high-rise, such as the John Hancock Building in Chicago with its own swimming pool and grocery store might be considered a community. Spiritual communities may span space and time.
VILLAGE	A collection of neighborhoods with a small commons. Maybe a high-rise.
NEIGHBORHOOD	A definable geographic neighborhood. The domain of a child on a bicycle. A neighborhood is a distinct collection of dwellings, such as an apartment complex or building, or group of houses.
WATCH GROUP	A group of dwellings or businesses organized for support and protection. A watch group is a cluster of immediate neighbors such as a floor of a high rise, units of apartments, a moorage dock, a co-housing development, an Oxford House, etc.
DWELLING or SHOP	A home is a collection of rooms, but we'll stop here as the fundamental unit.
PERSON or BUSINESS	I'm glad that you are reading this! Procede to the next section.

Notes on Portland, Oregon, and what differs from this model.

global addresses	Perhaps the most visible manifestation of the world model is the global address. Consider the following global address of Time Haven, where I live now. PERSON John Miller DWELLING Time Haven WATCH GROUP North End NEIGHBORHOOD Boone's Ferry Road VILLAGE Collins View COMMUNITY Burlingame TOWN Southwest AREA Portland REGION Pacific Northwest NATION America CONTINENT North America PLANET Earth Other Time Haven family members are Cynthia Stowell and Gus Miller. Our (inactive) watch group has no official name, but it could be called "North End", because we are on the very north end of Boone's Ferry Road, a 50-mile road that runs clear to Salem. Collins View is an association of smaller neighborhoods. The Boone's Ferry Road Neighborhood is one of a number named in the CVNA bylaws. The Portland urban area has no agreed upon name. "Metro" is the name of the "regional government" for the area, but not the name of the area. Some refer to "Willamette County" as the union of several urban counties. This area has also been called "Portcouver". The Pacific Northwest region has also been called "Cascadia" and "United Northwest". Details about global addresses.
transportation	[SUMMARY SENTENCEs].
distribution	[SUMMARY SENTENCEs].
education	[SUMMARY SENTENCEs].
voting	[SUMMARY SENTENCEs].
taxes	[SUMMARY SENTENCEs].
health care	Small centers in the community, Medium size hospitals in every town, Large Hospitals in every city. Regional, national, and even global centers for specialized treatment, disease control, research, prevention, etc. People are free to go anywhere in their (nation? region?) for health care as needed or convenient. They may have general providers in their own community while having special providers in other places. I.e., they are not constrained to the particular health centers in their global address . [All Basic Facilities may need to be publicly held? How much privatization? These are facilities, Health Care Plans are another matter!]
information	What about all that stuff you get in the mail from the 100's of bureaus, companies, agencies, etc? And more.
media	[SUMMARY SENTENCEs].
libraries	How about a neighborhood node for your regional library system? Each city, town, community, and village should have an appropriately sized branch, integrated into civic centers.
police, fire, medical, and rescue	911. Community policing, neighborhood watch groups, city police handle special events, regional forces finding were the bad guys hide out. Regional rescue of lost climbers, boaters, ... Help! Ambulances.
laws and ethics	Neighborhood Law and Ethics, Regional Laws, ..., Global Laws.
courts	Cases handled at the appropriate level, including neighborhood disputes. Appeals to the next higher level. Jurisprudence based on the 12-levels just like anything else. World Court.
corrections	Regional Detention Facilties, Rehabilitation Communities, Town Treatment Centers?
utilities	Gas & Electricity could be divided by communities, and smaller, but they would not be retrofit in existing grids. In new contruction, utilities could be distributed accoring to the model, except for sewer, which may make more sense to handle area-by area because of gravity. See water management section. Community-based co-generation facilities.
water management	This includes drinking water, sewage, surface water management, groundwater management, etc. (REF: Systems Engineering, Policy Analysis, and Management, Delft University of Technology, sepa.tudelft.nl) Water and Sewage lines need to follow gravity more than anything so they are best handled at the area level.
other emergency services	Each village should have a volunteer Emergency Response Team to help out after a storm, earthquake, etc.. There should be a stash of supplies and various tools. Training, preparation, and some supplies would be provided by the area & region. Combined resources should be available to all, for example there should be continental disaster recovery forces for earthquakes, floods, fires, hurricanes, tornados, etc. Regional resources could available to continental deployment on a contract basis.
other public services	Waste collection, recycling, ... Villages should have right to contract own garbage hauler, ...

etc...