Balmain map from between 1906-1910, State Library of NSW archives, download a full resolution version here
The Balmain peninsula only lies about one kilometer west of Sydney’s “city”, separated by the natural harbour. The Wangal people have called this area their home for thousands of years before European settlement. I have walked the local streets up and down for leisure and with the baby and often wondered about the stories that have taken place here in the past.
I picked up Adlergestell by Laura Laabs and finished it in just a few sittings — it drew me in more than I expected. Laura and I haven’t seen each other in about twenty years, but we were friends in high school and travelled through Kyrgyzstan together in 2004. Reading her debut novel felt a bit like revisiting that time — not only because of her voice, but because the story hits close to home in more ways than one.
A few weeks ago, I clicked on a Spotify suggested audiobook on East-West relations, and for lack of anything else to listen to, I started Steffen Mau’s “Ungleich Vereint: Warum der Osten Anders Bleibt”. It took only a few concentrated sittings. Since then, I have been immersing myself in several other books on the topic, and am hoping to pen a multi-book review with some autobiographical vignettes in the weeks or months to come.
Once in a while even silly “thought provoking” articles require a riposte. Michael Strain’s defense of billionaires is one of these. You can read it in the FT, and also consider the hundreds of unanimously critical comments. Reading it made me think about the book I am currently reading which calls for very tight limits on wealth accumulation: “Limitarianism”, much more on that below.
Philippe Sands’ “book “East West Street” was hard to stomach but I couldn’t put it down. Sands traces his family history in today’s Lviv in the Ukraine, yesteryear’s Lemberg in Austria-Hungary. His grandfather’s family has its roots near the city. Like most of Galicia’s Jewish population, it was almost entirely murdered during the holocaust.
India aims to become a developed nation by 2047, the centenary of its independence. Urban development is one significant pillar of this push. I jot down some links and notes from a short engagement with the subject.
Jorge Almazán and I wrote an op-ed for Nikkei Asia, in which we argue that Tokyo’s current “once in a century” modernization push is risking to destroy the city’s unique urbanism. The city’s archetypical neighborhoods came about in the postwar period without planning, but they need increasing protection from large-scale redevelopments.
Here are the first two paragraphs. Get in touch if you want to read the full text:
“Despite being the largest urban agglomeration in the world, Tokyo works. It is surprisingly human in scale, walkable and safe. Its success is rooted not in a high-rise, futuristic cityscape but in its intimate neighbourhoods. These dense, low-rise, often mixed-use enclaves — traditionally rich in small retail and businesses, community ties and flexible spaces — have made Tokyo one of the most liveable cities in the world.
But this Tokyo is under threat. A new wave of large-scale redevelopments, imposed from the top down without planning or long-term vision, is reshaping the urban fabric — particularly around train stations. The new developments replace commercial streets for privatized plazas that eliminate true public space. Without stronger protections, Tokyo risks losing the very model that made it so successful. (…)”
Darling Street in 1999, outside the Institute Arcade, by Philip Gostelow, from the State Library of NSW
Balmain has been our home in Sydney since we arrived here shortly before Christmas in 2021. Physically, our life has revolved around Darling Street. It is a nice feeling to be locally anchored for a peripatetic family like ourselves.
Written with Elliott and Manu on the occasion of YAG’s 10th anniversary. Published in Caravanserai, the magazine of the Royal Society for Asian Affairs (RSAA). Click here for the article’s PDF print version.
More than ten years ago, you could see us wandering the streets of Yangon with camera and notepad in hand. Yangon seemed to be waking up from a long and uneasy sleep. A few years earlier, in 2010, Myanmar had begun opening up in a staged liberalisation process after several decades of self-imposed isolation. Its former capital was cautiously re-entering the global imagination. There was a palpable sense of change in the air.
In The World After Gaza, Pankaj Mishra looks at the Israel-Palestine conflict since October 7, 2023 within a postcolonial framework. The reviews for the book were mixed. Not in the traditional sense though. The divided verdict reflects deep cleavages in our societies.