Another World Is Possible: How to Reignite Social and Political Imagination

Germans talk about the phenomenon of das Verschwinden der Zukunft, the disappearance of the future, and a widening gulf between what people hope for and what they think is likely to happen.

imagine that all public libraries closed down and you were given their former budget and a blank sheet of paper—what would you put in their place?

Together these help us to see beyond the particular to grasp the deeper unity not just of human beings but also of the living world and the cosmos of which we are part—that integration and insight at the heart of so much of the deepest thought throughout history.

a stunted social imagination undermines our ability to adapt.

Alexander’s aim was to make it easier for us to feel at home in our homes and the places where we spend time. Again, there is an analogy in the social field: some societies are warmer, more convivial, full of feedback and life, while others are cool, detached and less engaged. The former will tend to have more centres and more living patterns; the

I’ve found a strikingly similar pattern among political leaders, academics, NGO workers, businesspeople and young high-fliers, and not just in Europe and North America. Young people that I met in Africa were generally quite optimistic, but here too, despite burgeoning science-fiction scenes, dynamic hubs of digital innovation and lively political m

Utopia is part of the romance, the spark or dream. Then comes precision with experiments, showcases and prototypes that refine the idea. Finally, for a few, comes generalisation into political programmes that spread and scale the ideas.

the shared ability, cultivated from an early age, to explore the possible future is a vital muscle for any democracy—and one that needs to be exercised early and often.

there are very different rhythms of change for different things, like the very long time horizons for transforming infrastructures, developing new drugs or changing the make-up of the armed forces. At the other extreme, there are the very short time horizons of news cycles and software development. In between are the rhythms of schools and hospital