The dangers of utopia: World building and the careful practice of hope

Amid fears of looming global catastrophe, an apocalyptic political sensibility dominates, perhaps best captured in repeated laments that the future has been cancelled. In such a moment, hope can feel both necessary and impossible, can feel decidedly utopian. But is a critical utopian hope possible? The answer ultimately lies in the world of practice rather than theory, but here I offer cautions and resources for those with a will to hope. First, I consider the relationship between utopianism and resentment of the world, suggesting both apocalyptic and utopian politics are motivated by feelings of disappointment. The dangers of this affective orientation are illustrated by examining the excesses of twentieth-century utopian urban planning. Further, the utopian desire to inhabit a new and better world requires the destruction of existing worlds. The necessity of destruction to creativity, explored through fictional representations of architects in the work of Ayn Rand and J.G. Ballard, reveals an ambiguity in our hope of make the world anew. This tension is further developed by examining speculative fictions from Ursula Le Guin and Octavia Butler, which dramatise the link between solipsism and the destruction of world-building. I then identify a source for a critical practice of utopian hope in William James’ claim we have a right to believe in anything we are willing to work to make a reality. While making space for hope, such a right demands action to build a different world, a practical effort requiring care for the world as whole, for those elements we hate as well as those we love. To extend what this careful practice of hope offers a critical utopianism, I end by reflecting on community-led urban innovations and outlining a democratic utopian disposition that embraces a heterotopian politics, which accepts our ideal visions are ultimately impossible but necessary to alleviating contemporary injustices and creating space for unexpected developments.