What is it? Because of the relaxed summer mood, I'll defer to the genius Alfred North Whitehead. In his Adventures of Ideas, he described it as 'the maintenance of social order, by its own inherent persuasiveness as embodying the nobler alternative'. Civilisation is not chiefly coercive - it is a communal logic that continues and develops, because it appeals to human needs and ambitions, not because it is threatening.

And this, in turn, requires some element of change and often surprise: civilisations flourish by responding to their own faults, rather than denying them. Put simply: civilisation involves some shared recognition of mutual dependence, as well as the freedom required to depart from the norms when novelty prompts or emergency demands.

What does healthy civilisation look like? Obvious replies are large buildings or grand art collections, but civilisation can also be encouraged and recognised by subtler cues: small details in city spaces, for example, that hint at a larger pattern of reciprocity and perhaps innovation. Here are some examples, drawn from personal experience, and unsorted by theory. (Translation: join me as I shout at clouds.)

Toilet doors with hooks.

Pots of looseleaf tea.

Dignified

Impromptu urban gardens

Obviously this is only a handful of examples: I might have listed curb cutaways, comfortable public benches, helpful and courteous - rather than antagonistic and falsely polite - public transport staff.

These are not essential things, and that is the point. They indicate and, in some small way, help to create, the conditions of a civilised existence.

The greater issue is, of course, what kind of civilisation we seek. Mine would be symbolised by something equally small: a welcome mat.

Dr Damon Young is a Melbourne philosopher.

www.damonyoung.com.au