What’s wrong with Bali. This beautiful island is a great holiday destination. But it has some ugly features that risk spoiling it. Here is a fix.
I was lucky enough recently to enjoy a holiday in Bali. It was fabulous.
Challenges for Bali
But the island faces challenges. Development is eating up the beauty which draws visitors.
Rice field on Bali (Photo Robert Pimm)
Locals seek prosperity. Visitors want somewhere to stay and amenities to enjoy.
The same tension tingles in tourist hotspots from Barcelona to Istanbul (links in bold italics are to other posts on this site). How do you prevent tourist development ruining what the tourists have come to see?
What’s wrong with Bali: fix the skyline
Here’s my modest suggestion for Bali: start by protecting the skyline.
Much of Bali remains low-rise. From a distance it mostly looks unspoiled. But here and there – eg the Bukit Peninsula – a single out-of-scale high-rises piercing the skyline is visible for miles. The result is to broadcast a dismal tale of destruction.
Protecting skylines in London and the Caribbean
There’s an alternative. Many Caribbean islands are overdeveloped . But they keep their idyllic image. How?
They do it by having development codes which protect skylines.
You may be able to build a property at a certain location. But the planners set a condition. You can only build if you don’t break the skyline, as observed from certain other places.
They even do a similar thing in London, on a more limited scale, with “protected vistas“.
How about protected vistas for Bali? Or, if they already exist, how about enforcing them?
That way Bali will stay fabulous for longer.
Panorama of Uluwatu, Bukit Peninsula (Photo Robert Pimm)
P.S. if you enjoyed this review, you’re welcome to explore other writing on this site, starting with the sitemap and guide.
