Small towns do more than change the scenery. They give visitors a break from themselves. This piece unpacks how nostalgia and tradition create identity relief that boosts spend, dwell time, and community value. Practical takeaways for tourism, luxury, food, museums, and policy.
Read More
Regional investment can bring jobs and services, but also resentment when trust is broken. This article explores reciprocity, legitimacy, and the ethics of belonging in small towns.
Read More
City migrants bring renewal to small towns but also risk reshaping them in ways that erode what made them attractive. This article explores the café paradox, the culture clash, and why belonging is earned, not claimed.
Read More
When big business arrives in a small town, success isn’t measured only in sales. Southerly Ten’s patience in Gippsland shows how trust can be earned, while Woolworths and Bendigo Bank reveal how quickly it can be lost. Small towns measure belonging not in quarters, but in decades. This article explores why culture, memory, and legitimacy matter more than profit when corporates cross the town gate.
Read More
Guests pay for days yet remember minutes. The peak end rule explains why a stay often lives or dies on one high moment and the day of departure. What works, what fails, and how to design the arc so memory carries your brand home.
Read More
Airports, resorts, and luxury boutiques don’t just sell products. They sell time — scarce, abundant, distorted, or timeless. This essay explores how time shapes shopping behaviour.
Read More
Retail has doubled down on experience design to win back emotion and attention. But when design becomes control, engagement collapses into performance.
Read More
Not everyone who sounds like a genius is one. Our cultural radar is tuned to confidence, not complexity—narcissism, not nuance. In this piece, I trace the myth of genius through history, psychology, and systems, and suggest a quieter, more connective intelligence that the world urgently needs.
Read More
Nearly 40% of aged care food is thrown away—unrecorded, unnoticed, unremarked. But a new generation of AI tools is changing that. By tracking what’s actually eaten, systems like AFINI-T offer real-time insight into nutrition, risk, and resident dignity—transforming food from a static cost into a dynamic source of intelligence. This isn’t about surveillance. It’s about finally listening to the plate.
Read More