Retronesia: The Years of Building Dangerously is the first must-have guide to Indonesia's most creative architectural period. Be inspired by the beauty and verve of 1950s and 60s Indonesia when professional architects were a rarity, but the talent pool was overflowing with adventurers. At a time when retro style revival has never been more popular, Retronesia cuts through cultural amnesia to celebrate virtually unknown treasures of mid-century Modernism across the archipelago. This style atlas - systematically examines the cultural and political forces shaping design during 1950 to mid-1960s Indonesia - providing readers with over 50 curated destinations. Going beyond a travel guide, Retronesia has crafted oral histories into bite sized biographies to provide compelling accounts of public life and ambition. Carefully photographed, surviving examples cover the world of work, rest and play from classic public housing, futurist state institutions, once luxury townhouses and villas to the faded glamour of volcanic hill station retreats. Retronesia is an unmatched resource for anyone wanting to see and do more with their travels in Indonesia.

Indonesia was founded on the ideal of the “Sovereignty of the People”, which suggests the pre-eminence of people’s rights to access, use and control land to support their livelihoods. Yet, many questions remain unresolved. How can the state ensure access to land for agriculture and housing while also supporting land acquisition for investment in industry and infrastructure? What is to be done about indigenous rights? Do registration and titling provide solutions? Is the land reform agenda — legislated but never implemented — still relevant? How should the land questions affecting Indonesia’s disappearing forests be resolved? The contributors to this volume assess progress on these issues through case studies from across the archipelago: from large-scale land acquisitions in Papua, to asset ownership in the villages of Sulawesi and Java, to tenure conflicts associated with the oil palm and mining booms in Kalimantan, Sulawesi and Sumatra. What are the prospects for the “people’s sovereignty” in regard to land?

Construction in Indonesia presents an in-depth analysis of the construction sector and suggests pathways to further improve the performance and efficiency of the industry. Experts in economics, management, and engineering have examined all aspects of the Indonesian construction sector to provide readers with unique insights into the workings of this important sector of the economy, and to analyse how both economic growth and policies have contributed to Indonesia’s development and how lessons learned can be used to guide future growth. Indonesia’s construction industry is set to grow rapidly after a decade of extensive investments in public infrastructure projects emphasizing new transportation, utilities, and social infrastructure buildings. The book is divided into two sections: Looking Back will focus on a critical analysis of the construction industry, its achievements and its failures, and the impact of the efficiency of the sector in bringing about improvements to overall quality of life. The primary purpose of the second section, Moving Forward, is to suggest directions and emphases for future action by the government of Indonesia (and other stakeholders) to promote the continued development of the construction industry. This book will be a valuable resource for policy makers in government and industry and other stakeholders to obtain a succinct view of the sector in the archipelago and to appreciate its potential to bring about improvements to the quality of life in Indonesia.

The Internet in Indonesia’s New Democracy is a detailed study of legal, economic, political and cultural practices surrounding the provision and consumption of the Internet in Indonesia at the turn of the twenty-first century. Hill and Sen detail the emergence of the Internet into Indonesia in the mid-1990s, and cover its growth through the dramatic economic and political crises of 1997 and the subsequent transition to democracy. Conceptually the Internet is seen as a global phenomenon, with global implications, however this book develops a way of thinking about the Internet within the limits of geo-political categories of nations and provinces. The political turmoil in Indonesia provides a unique context in which to understand the specific local and national consequences of a global, universal technology.

How did democracy became entrenched in the world's largest Muslim-majority country? After the fall of its authoritarian regime in 1998, Indonesia pursued an unusual course of democratization. It was insider-dominated and gradualist and it involved free elections before a lengthy process of constitutional reform. At the end of the process, Indonesia's amended constitution was essentially a new and thoroughly democratic document. By proceeding as they did, the Indonesians averted the conflict that would have arisen between adherents of the old constitution and proponents of radical, immediate reform. Donald L. Horowitz documents the decisions that gave rise to this distinctive constitutional process. He then traces the effects of the new institutions on Indonesian politics and discusses their shortcomings and their achievements in steering Indonesia away from the dangers of polarization and violence. He also examines the Indonesian story in the context of comparative experience with constitutional design and intergroup conflict.

Offering a fresh perspective, this timely book analyzes the socio-cultural and physical production of planned capital cities through the theoretical lens of feminism. Dorina Pojani evaluates the historical, spatial and symbolic manifestations of new capital cities, as well as the everyday experiences of those living there, to shed light on planning processes, outcomes and contemporary planning issues.

The 26 scholars contributing to this volume have helped shape the field of Indonesian studies over the last three decades. They represent a broad geographic background—Indonesia, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Australia, the United States, Canada—and have studied in a wide array of key disciplines—anthropology, history, linguistics and literature, government and politics, art history, and ethnomusicology. Together they reflect on the "arc of our field," the development of Indonesian studies over recent tumultuous decades. They consider what has been achieved and what still needs to be accomplished as they interpret the groundbreaking works of their predecessors and colleagues. This volume is the product of a lively conference sponsored by Cornell University, with contributions revised following those interactions. Not everyone sees the development of Indonesian studies in the same way. Yet one senses—and this collection confirms—that disagreements among its practitioners have fostered a vibrant, resilient intellectual community. Contributors discuss photography and the creation of identity, the power of ethnic pop music, cross-border influences on Indonesian contemporary art, violence in the margins, and the shadows inherent in Indonesian literature. These various perspectives illuminate a diverse nation in flux and provide direction for its future exploration.