LONDON | GOLDILOCKS

The ideal neighbourhood, like the ideal lover, scores high on all fronts. She is vibrant, leafy, scholarly & well-connected.

In astrobiology, the Goldilocks Principle defines the range of distances that a planet can be from its star whilst still maintaining surface temperatures that are "just right" for life to flourish.

The Goldilocks Map - shown below - is unapologetically subjective, in the sense that it reflects the particular values of the District Finder's partners. Like the little girl in the fairy tale, we like our porridge not too hot and not too cold but "just right". And the same is true for the neighbourhoods we fancy. We want them to have the right mix of everything. But what exactly does that mean? For an answer to that question, you'll need to scroll down and read the notes below the graph. However, before you do anything else, please read the "Map Tips" advice.

Map Tips

Advanced Filters

Navigation Tips

Before we dive into the nuts and bolts of the Goldilocks methodology, a short word on the topic of "scales". When you move your cursor around the map, a lightbox will appear for each hexagon. This lightbox will show the locational characteristics of the hexagon together with two different types of stratification. The first of these types is the Goldilocks Class where the stratification is on a scale of 1 to 100 (with 1 representing the highest score and 100 representing the lowest score). The second of these types is one you should already be familiar with from the Polymap, namely the tiers that we use for schools quality, leafiness and vibrancy. The stratification for these Tiers is on a scale of 1 to 10, where Tier 1 represents the top decile (respectively: best schools performance, most leafy, or most vibrant) and Tier 10 represents the bottom decile.

To return to the specifics of how we calculate our Goldilocks values, our classification procedure reflects the following weights:

32% of a hexagon's Goldilocks Class derives from the relative quality of its schools;
32% is attributable to its relative leafiness;
22% is determined by its relative vibrancy;
7% is driven by its relative proximity to the city centre (the closer the better); and
7% is linked to the relative proximity of its postcodes to the nearest tube/rail station.

As previously noted, we then divide London's 2,915 hexagons into 100 different classes, with Class 1 containing the hexagons with the highest Goldilocks Class (deep gold) and Class 100 containing the hexagons with the lowest Goldilocks Class (deep blue).

Now, for obvious reasons, this weighting schema is highly subjective. As determined by your age and your personal circumstances, you might attach a very different set of weights to each of these five factors and what appears deep blue on this graph might (for you) be pure gold.

Let's imagine, for example, that your kids have left home and your residential choices are no longer driven by the quality of the local schools. Let's also imagine that you hate travelling on public transport and want to live as close to the city centre as possible. Blue hexagons suddenly look a lot more attractive. You could, for example, choose Hexagon # 1518 and have the pleasure of the British Museum on your doorstep even though your district's Goldilocks Value is trending blue (in Class 41) . Or you could choose Hexagon # 1564 and stroll across to the Old Vic every night even though your district's Goldilocks Value is definitively blue (in Class 54).

All of which simply goes to show that, if you're serious about finding your geographic London soulmate, you need to work a bit harder. You can have some instant fun with the Goldilocks Map. But genuine matchmaking requires you to make the more complex trade-offs that are available on the Polymap or (if you are reading this on a handheld device) the Gallery.