Posts tagged "Utopian"

Culture Economy Energy Environment Society

Launching Today: “Atlas Of Utopias” – real-world examples by Transnational Institute

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Launching Today: “Atlas Of Utopias” – real-world examples by Transnational Institute
An Atlas of Real Utopias? | P2P Foundation

Worldwide, mayors are increasingly a progressive and fearless voice advancing bold agendas on climate change, welcoming refugees and trialling new forms of democratic participation. …

Can a group of cities really offer any fundamental solutions to a crisis created by the immense power of corporate capital?

To try and answer this question, the Transnational Institute in 2017 launched Transformative Cities, asking communities to share their stories of radical transformation, in particular in the areas of water, energy and housing. With hundreds of examples, these are now arrayed in an ‘Atlas of Utopias‘. http://transformativecities.org/atlas-of-utopias/

Atlas of Utopias: 2018 Transformative Cities Featured Initiatives
The Atlas of Utopias is a global gallery of inspiring community-led transformation in water, energy and housing. It features 32 communities from 19 countries working on radical solutions to our world’s systemic economic, social and ecological crises. http://transformativecities.org/atlas-of-utopias/

TNI also asks you to VOTE for your favorite of many examples, for an award to be announced June 06! More to come.

(Courtesy Peer 2 Peer Foundation, Transnational Institute (TNI). Thanks to TNI for header, post images.)

 

Culture Society

Marketing Utopianism

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Marketing Utopianism

“The Only Thing Stopping Us From Creating Utopia Is The Fact That We Don’t Truly Want It Yet”

How interesting to such a mind is a world in which there are no problems? All of the major tribulations facing our species today are of our own making: war, poverty, famine, social and economic injustice, cruelty and exploitative toil. What few problems we encounter which aren’t man-made (natural disasters, some diseases) could be vastly minimized if our species was pouring all its mental energy and creativity into creating a better world for everyone instead of into economic competition and warfare. A world without any of those problems is uninteresting and unsexy to the average human mind. We’re not creating it because we’re bored by the very thought of it. If utopia were created tomorrow, humanity would sabotage it almost immediately out of sheer restlessness. https://medium.com/@caityjohnstone/the-only-thing-stopping-us-from-creating-utopia-is-the-fact-that-we-dont-truly-want-it-yet-35fddbfd83d7

Header Image: The Venus Project

Culture Economy Education Society

Utopian Nostalgia

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The Return of the Utopians
The Return of the Utopians
What today’s movements for social and economic reform can learn from the intentional communities of the nineteenth century.
www.newyorker.com

 

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Looking Backward, Looking Forward

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November 21, 2016

Hello folks. In our harsh political climate it’s hard to think of the optimistic goals that would pull us towards building a better world.

In 1888 Edward Bellamy published ‘Looking Backward’ which described a quasi-socialist utopian American society. Over a hundred ‘Bellamy Clubs’ arose to debate and discuss the idea. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Looking_Backward

Looking Backward - Wikipedia

What are today’s lures (real and imagined) for social change that can challenge and interrogate our present?

(The name is inspired by the recent Saturday Night Live skit where Brooklyn people retreat from election results. Not above self parody.)