Introduction

Abstract

This is a book about fears, dreams and desires. It covers a lot of ground and it moves (quite quickly) through a wide range of disciplines and debates. It tells the story of Utopia in the opening decade of a new century. It sketches a whole range of dynamic trends in the world around us, some of them emergent, some of them enduring. Its central focus is utopianism, a phenomenon that harnesses desire and repeatedly drives human thought and behaviour. Our world is home to many very different kinds of utopianism. This book seeks to identify the most important of these and to (begin to) explain them.