Pattern 1
Independent Regions
Problem
When a country grows into one immense governing bloc, or its regions blur into shapeless sprawl, people lose any sense of a homeland they can picture and take part in shaping. Decisions drift far away from the lives they affect, and regional character fades.
Solution
Divide the land into regions of modest size and population, each free to govern much of its own affairs and to grow its own economic and cultural identity, rather than letting them dissolve into a single vast nation-state or a boundless conurbation.