One hundred and fifty years ago, in the late 1870’s there were no cars, few trains and definitely no airplanes. People travelled locally by coach and horse, or on horseback, or by that much forgotten method: walking. Can you imagine a world that essentially lived within its village, town or city limits, only venturing forth

There used to be a really popular Australian TV program called “Neighbours” which followed the lives of a particular set of (beautiful, dramatic, emotional, successful and the opposite) people who knew each other very well and lived in each others’ pockets, well, beds too as I recall!  But perhaps you don’t know that here in Indonesia there

There used to be a really popular Australian TV program called “Neighbours” which followed the lives of a particular set of (beautiful, dramatic, emotional, successful and the opposite) people who knew each other very well and lived in each others’ pockets, well, beds too as I recall!  But perhaps you don’t know that here in Indonesia there

The European Smart City working group, comprised of researchers from Vienna and Delft, has systematically operationalized the smart city concept along six themes: smart governance, smart people, smart economy, smart mobility, smart environment, and smart living. It may be hard to see when looking at it from above through the smog, on the streets with

Last month I wrote an extensive piece on the great ideas coming out of tiny Palau: The Palau Pledge and the “Ol’au Palau”program  which is described as: “The first tourism initiative that unlocks new experiences and places through sustainable action.” In this article I urged the Indonesia tourism authorities, either national in the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy

I don’t know where I first saw this but it is a really fun way of looking at the sad state we have got ourselves into as a planet. I would love to credit someone for this great little story, but I can’t remember where I got it! I might even have written it myself! Mother

“Are we nearing the end of the pandemic? I certainly hope so, but are we prepared for the next crisis? I can pretty much guarantee that when the masks come off and the social distancing stops, the whole country will relax and say ‘whew’ and forget the whole thing”. “But with my background in insurance

A tourist village or rural tourism is a way to improve the tourism sector as well as to apply a sustainability community-based tourism development. It is also an effort to conserve both the environment and nature as well as the people’s culture and empower the potential of local culture and local wisdom values that tend

About 60 years ago in UK there was a debate on TV between two extremely smart and powerful lady Members of Parliament. One was supporting the English City of Manchester, the other Aberdeen in Scotland. They represented two diametrically opposed views on city development. The lady from Aberdeen was dedicated to free, easy access, universal

The economy of Indonesia is the largest in Southeast Asia and is one of the emerging market economies of the world. As a “middle income” country and member of the G20, Indonesia is classified as a newly industrialised country. It is the15th largest economy in the world by nominal Gross Domestic Product (and the 7th largest in terms of GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity).

Photo by Josh Rose on Unsplash/NOWJAKARTA Alistair Speirs returns, this time talking about how to avoid going back to the old normal amidst a society boasting about embracing the new one while still clinging to the old ways of doing things whether they realise it or not.  

There is great confusion here in Indonesia which now, more than ever needs to be resolved. There is the Common Cold, which gives you a cough, a runny nose and probably a heavy nasty headache. Then there is Influenza, which is much more serious, and while it shares some of the same symptoms, it is not