Here's a bit of a wonky question: what do you think makes for a better legislature, one that is small with large districts, or one that has hundreds of members with small districts (for the sake of argument, let's focus this on state legislatures, since truly small districts are practically impossible for the US House).
In my opinion, the lower house of a state legislature should have small districts; with the exception of very large states, I don't think district size should exceed 20,000 people. That's real neighborhood-like representation in my mind. In an average-sized state (about 6 million people), this would mean 300 Representatives.
On one hand, that's a pretty big House to manage, and it would probably mean that most legislators get lost in the shuffle. Only New Hampshire has a House larger than 300 people, though the US House is larger as well. On the other hand, it probably means that everyone active in their community will know their legislator. Most small towns or counties will have a legislator to call their own. In big cities, neighborhoods, including impoverished ones, will have a direct representative in the state government. Imagine if a city like Chicago sent a representative to the State House for every 20,000 people; they don't even have City Council representation at the level.
Since the State House has such deep representation, perhaps it is the State Senate that should have broad representation. A small State Senate will allow for a closer working relationship among Senators, and it's unlikely that many will be lost in the shuffle like in a large House. I think that's important in a legislature, but also at odds with a desire for close-to-home representation. My ideal size for a State Senate district would be about 200,000 people (with a minimum of perhaps 20 Senators, since this would result in a very small Senate for some states). This would be 30 State Senators in an average-sized state.
That's my two cents. The idea wouldn't work in California, Texas, New York or Florida, but I think it's feasible everywhere else. How do you feel about this issue? Does it even matter?