Our attention and imagination are inextricably linked. One does not exist without the other. Together they are, quite possibly, the most valuable tools we have to envision a positive future and fight for it.

What if we could simply walk through a door and go anywhere, to any place, or any life, or any possible future? In one passage, Hamid describes what the future felt like once this had happened, and had all settled down: ‘The apocalypse appeared to have arrived and yet it was not apocalyptic, which is to say that while the changes were jarring they

As the writer and activist Naomi Klein puts it, ‘There are no non-radical options left before us.’34 I believe imagination is the only thing we have that is – or could be – radical enough to get us through, provided it is accompanied, of course, by bravery, and by action.

Perhaps we should instead be asking what the world would look like if a healthy imagination were, in our everyday, considered indispensable to a healthy life?

They even created a Civic Imagination Office to better inspire and support the imaginations of local communities, and to enable their ideas to become reality.

The creation of democratic structures within which the imagination can flourish is a vital part of how we move forward, and Barcelona is at the forefront. The energy and work are spreading and taking root in many other cities under the title of ‘Fearless Cities’.

we don’t give imagination enough time.

The resultant decision was neither a carefully considered nor a wise collective response, and the divisions it created will endure for generations. And it meant that no one could think about anything else for years – squashing imaginative what-if questions about what kind of future we might actually want to embrace. But how might we have done it di

By October 2018, 480 pacts had been implemented, from community gardens to tool libraries, from murals to repurposing empty buildings as community centres.