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The rapid urbanization in Java is primarily based on the development of its metropolitan region Jabotabek, the mega-urban agglomeration around Indonesia's capital Jakarta. This article deals with the interdependence' of economic, political, and demographic change within Metro-Jakarta, Southeast Asia's most densely populated urban region. Having been politically pushed since the beginning of former president Suharto's pro-western 'New Order'-policy in the late 1960s, the deregulation packages of the past decade have resulted in enormous international capital influx, the creation of new towns, a general deterioration of living conditions and an increasing transformation of employment, which can not be controlled successfully by regional and local authorities. Indonesia's present economic and political turmoil in the aftermath of the Southeast Asian crisis seems likely to further reduce international interest in sustainable investment within Western Java.

Individual tourism, formerly often mislabelled alternative tourism, has become a well-established and mostly welcome way of travelling in Third World countries. Whereas the economic and socio-cultural consequences of low-budget backpacking in Southeast Asia, both one of the most dynamic tourism destinations and the cradle of Lonely Planet-guided travellers, were considered negative, even devastating for a long time, the Asian crisis of the late 1990s has made many governments rethink their dependence on international tour operators and large-scale package tourism. After a short discussion of both history and dimensions of international tourism within the region, the concept of backpacking as a form of sustainable development is introduced, which offers opportunities for grass-roots development for a wide range of people.

Im Mittelpunkt dieses Beitrages steht eine Diskussion von Aspekten des Rucksacktourismus ("Backpacking"), den zahlreiche südostasiatische Staaten als Entwicklungsmotor entdeckt (und akzeptiert) haben, nachdem die Zahl der Pauschaltouristen aufgrund von Terrorangst, Umweltkatastrophen und regionalen Seuchen drastisch gesunken ist. Besonderer Schwerpunkt wurde auf die regionale Manifestation und Perzeption von Backpacking an der Wiege des Rucksacktourismus gelegt, wo die erste einschlägige Reiseliteratur seit den 1970ern die anfangs anti-touristischen Reiseströme bündelte. Die zunehmende Kommerzialisierung der Backpacker-Infrastruktur in den Quellländern (Fallbeispiel: Lonely Planet, ein Reisebuchverlag) und Zielländern (Fallbeispiel: Khao San Road, eine Backpackerenklave in Bangkok/Thailand) wird ebenso thematisiert wie der Rollenwandel der einst anti-konsumorientierten Billigreise zum fun-orientierten Lifestyle-Event vor exotischer Kulisse, das persönlicher Selbstfindung und egozentrierter Wellness- und Adventure-Hype Vorrang vor der Befassung mit fremden Kulturen und Gesellschaftsformen gibt. ; This paper is an attempt to highlight some aspects of postmodern backpacking, which has come to be more appreciated by South-East Asian governments as a development tool after the decrease of package tourist arrivals due to terrorism, diseases and natural disasters. Special focus has been put on backpacking performance, perception and transformation within the region, where the accumulation of youthful travellers has been obvious for more than three decades, when the first underground guidebook for independent travellers was published in the 1970s. Special attention has been given to the increasing commercialization (Lonely Planet) and the booming urban infrastructure (Khao San) of this "anti-tourist" travel style, which seems to attract a new comfort-, shopping- and fun-oriented backpacker clientele rather than the ideologically-minded anti-consumerism backpackers of the early 1980s. However, apart from regional development opportunities and disparities, backpacking offers a wide range of personal development chances for postmodern mobile professionals, who seem to be more interested in western lifestyle traveller enclaves and self-fulfillment than in exploring and understanding foreign cultures.

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