I am a geographer. 

I was inspired as a teenager in the 1970’s by the most progressive Prime Minister in my lifetime, Gough Whitlam’s words, that “where one lives should not be determinant of what opportunities one has in life”. 

Geography should not be destiny. Places represented by the communities that live there should have equal access to opportunity. Opportunity to quality education, quality health, affordable housing, and meaningful employment. These are the pillars of social mobility, I believe to be the essence of a good society.

After working in local and state government, I founded .id (informed decisions) in 1997 and transitioned the business into new ownership in 2024.

.id’s work is steeped in the quantitative paradigm for informed decision making. Converting data into meaningful insights to make informed decisions at a geography that represents community has been .id’s mission.

After quarter of a century of travels, observing the role that places play and how they function, I see patterns of change. What does change mean? How can it be better? What are the signs of change that should be encouraged

I now move on to urban observer - a flaneur. 

Out with the spreadsheets and data bases. In with the senses and intuitive observations of place of an older, hopefully wiser person.

  • Why does Barcelona have all the cultural attributes of a city of 20 million, when it is less than half that size? 

  • What gives Melbourne’s CBD a life that Sydney’s lacks? 

  • How is Detroit emerging from a bankruptcy? 

  • What impact does the French GFC light rail investments have on cities like Lyon? 

  • What are the signs of recovery for a place like Lismore? 

  • How can Spain have a fast rail network while Australia chases its tail on infrastructure? 

  • How does a city like Turin thrive consistently though dramatic periods of social and economic upheaval? 

The figure of the flâneur has been used — among other things – to explain modern, urban experience, to explain urban spectatorship, to explain the class tensions and gender divisions of the nineteenth-century city, to describe modern alienation, to explain the sources of mass culture, to explain the postmodern spectatorial gaze.[14] And it has served as a source of inspiration to writers and artists.