As the world confronts the fast catastrophe of Covid and the slow calamity of climate change, we also face a third, less visible a crisis of imagination. We can easily picture ecological disaster or futures dominated by technology. But we struggle to imagine a world in which people thrive and where we improve our democracy, welfare, neighbourhoods or education. Many are resigned to fatalism—yet they desperately want transformational social change.
This book argues that, although the threats are real, we can use creative imagination to achieve a better visualising where we want to go and how to get there. Political and social thinker Geoff Mulgan offers lessons we can learn from the past, and methods we can use now to open up thinking about the future and spark action.
Drawing on social sciences, the arts, philosophy and history, Mulgan shows how we can recharge our collective imagination. From Socrates to Star Wars, he provides a roadmap for the future.
Geoff Mulgan is director of the Young Foundation. Between 1997 and 2004 he worked in the UK Prime Minister’s office and Cabinet Office and before that was the founding director of the thinktank Demos. He is a Visiting Professor at LSE, UCL, Melbourne University and the China Executive Leadership Academy. He also works as a part time adviser to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in Australia. His latest book is The Art of Public Strategy: mobilising power and knowledge for the common good