Utopianism as a guiding principle for speculative imaginations is key to both envisioning and actualizing alternative modes of anti-capitalist societies.

Drawing on Abensour and Bloch, Ruth Levitas (2010, p. 542) argues utopianism can be a potent form of speculative sociological thought, capable of enabling both critical analysis of social desires and the reconstruction of alternatives: ‘… by thinking about utopia as a method, and specifically in thinking about it as a method rather than a goal, we can think more effectively about alternative futures… a capacity for the education of desire that only utopia can offer.’ Levitas (2017) therefore considers the ‘Utopian approach’, core to the pursuit of radical and transformative change, ‘allow[ing] us not only to imagine what an alternative society could look like, but…to imagine what it might feel like to inhabit it, thus giving a greater potential depth to our judgments about the good’. Contemporary utopian theory therefore offers an analytical method for extending prevailing approaches to the analysis of urban imaginaries like the SCI, moving beyond common-sense anti-utopian critiques or denunciations of techno-dystopias, to explore the dialectics of utopia and dystopia, critique and construction. In the next section below, we introduce the value of speculative fiction to futures studies before going on to explore how fictional representations of future urban worlds, read through the lens of heuristic utopianism might inform and extend critical understanding of the SCI. 2.2. Fictional representations and the extension of social scientific critique As SCI illustrate, the ways we think about futures are capable of framing and shaping the development of societies and settlements in their names. Since, following Graham (2016), then there can be no straightforward binary between the “fictional” and the “factual” city, urban scholars have long explored fictional and imaginary representations of the city and urban life and their roles in shaping urban change (Abbott, 2016; Bassett, Steinmueller & Voss, 2013; Dunn, Cureton, & Pollastri, 2014). Fictional representations are equally widely acknowledged to have important roles in future studies, whether by conveying future ‘possibilities’ and ‘warning signals’ or embodying, imagining and symbolizing futures (1993, Bergman, Karlsson, & Axelsson, 2010; Miles, 1990; Popper, 2009) that can provide alternative views on how the future is being understood and framed (Lawler, 1980; Miles, 1990). Fiction in future studies provides essential diversity and multidimensionality in ‘ways of knowing’, which are, by their very nature, ‘imaginary’ (Stableford, Clute, & Nicholls, 1993): ‘Sensing and making-sense of fictional worlds covers not just the physical or institutional contours of imagined tomorrows but also the emotions, colours, sounds, tastes, etc’ (Miller, 2018b, p. 28). Fiction is also seen as a means to tap into often unconsciously held assumptions (Miller, 2018a; Slaughter, 1998) and the ‘implicit understandings that lay beneath the surface of society, and even our scholarship’ (Abbott, 2007, p. 123). Fictional representations of future worlds may therefore illuminate not-yet imagined or realised possibilities and trajectories for change offering a means of interrogating existing social scientific imaginaries and prompting deeper reflection on the present. In the rest of the paper we therefore go on to explore the potential benefits of bringing critical social scientific analysis of the techno-utopianism of SCI (Section 3) into conversation with utopianism and speculative fictional representations of techno-futures (Section 4): in doing so, we seek to assess the potential contribution that both might make towards a simultaneously critical and reconstructive reading of SCI, examining both the desires they project and how we might come to ‘desire in a different way’. We thus seek to illustrate the value of both utopia as method and speculative fiction in contributing to an expanded, multi-disciplinary approach to the education of desire for SCI (Section 5). 3. Social science critique of SCI: an overview and assessment Our analysis of the social-scientific critique of the techno-utopianism of SCI is based on a systematic review and categorization of existing literature. To conduct the review we performed a search (first in 2017, followed by an update-end of 2018) through ‘science direct’ and ‘google scholar’ using a range of keywords: ‘smart city’, ‘smart urbanism’, and ‘smart planning’, which were then combined with qualifiers arising from the literature, including: ‘big data’, ‘technology/ ICT’, ‘urban development’. We identified and selected texts according to their relevance to the overall theme, including peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and documents by major ICT companies. Additional texts were then identified by following up relevant references found within the original sample. In total we examined 42 sources. The range of Journals includes: Cities; City; Dialogues in Human Geography; Environment and Planning A & D; Futures; GeoJournal; International journal of urban and regional research; Journal of Cleaner Production; Journal of Urban Technology; Nature; Urban Research and Practice; Urban Studies. Content analysis was used to identify and define key categories through a simultaneous process of reviewing data, coding and analyzing (Glaser & Strauss, 2017). The analysis of existing social scientific critique is presented in Table 1: it reveals two broad dimensions of focus on the techno-utopianism of SCI, providing an overview of the categories identified in the SCI literature, including selected authors we consider representative of each constituent part and impact type.

Speculative fiction is key to actualizing new political figures Imarisha & brown 15 [Walidah Imarisha is an American writer, activist, educator and spoken word artist; adrienne maree brown is a writer, activist and facilitator. From 2006 to 2010, she was executive director of the Ruckus Society. She also co-founded and directed the United States League of Young Voters. Octavia’s Brood : Science Fiction Stories From Social Justice Movements. AK Press; 2015. Accessed July 10, 2023. . Bfinzer)

We hold so many worlds inside us. So many futures. It is our radical responsibility to share these worlds, to plant them in the soil of our society as seeds for the type of justice we want and need. It has been beautiful to gather these stories, collaboratively edit them, and begin to understand not just the challenges we face or the enemies we need to transform, but the abundance of imagination we in the social justice realm hold, and must cultivate. We see ourselves as part of a growing wave of folks connecting science fiction (or what we’re calling visionary fiction) with social justice. Science fiction is the perfect “exploring ground,” as it gives us the opportunity to play with different outcomes and strategies before we have to deal with the real-world costs. In the process of hearing and working these stories, we developed tools, frameworks, and principles that would help us to bring the work off of the page and into our lives. We wanted to end this anthology with an offering of three of these tools. The first is visionary fiction, which Walidah spoke about in the introduction. The elements of visionary fiction are that it: explores current social issues through the lens of sci-fi; is conscious of identity and intersecting identities; centers those who have been marginalized; is aware of power inequalities; is realistic and hard but hopeful; shows change from the bottom up rather than the top down; highlights that change is collective; and is not neutral—its purpose is social change and societal transformation. The stories we tell can either reflect the society we are a part of or transform it. If we want to bring new worlds into existence, then we need to challenge the narratives that uphold current power dynamics and patterns. We call upon science fiction, fantasy, horror, magical realism, myth, and everything in between as we create and teach visionary fiction. The second tool is emergent strategy. A strategy is a set of plans toward an action. Emergence is the way complex systems and patterns emerge from a series of relatively simple interactions. Instead of linear, hierarchical, outcome-oriented strategies and strategic plans that can’t adapt to changing conditions, we need ways of strategizing together based on understanding and respecting change. So far, the elements of emergent strategy are that it is intentional, interdependent and relational, adaptive, resilient because it is decentralized, fractal, uses transformative justice, and creates more possibilities. One of the ways we’ve been reading Octavia Butler’s work is as case studies of emergent strategy. In sessions with local communities, we’re introducing people to the framework and asking them to assess which elements of emergent strategy might be most necessary to their local work and supporting them in generating strategies together. One aspect of emergent strategy is that there is no waste—we are encouraged to see everything around us as a resource. Butler’s book Parable of the Sower follows the main character Olamina, a young Black woman who lives in a slightly dystopic future in a gated community. She carries a radically different vision for the purpose of humanity than her Christian family. She believes our “destiny is to take root among the stars,” to see Earth as a womb rather than a permanent home. She calls her beliefs Earthseed, and she cultivates Earthseed as she matures in the tiny and dangerous container of her home. The essence of emergent strategy can be found in the central tenet of Olamina’s Earthseed: “All that you touch, you change. All that you change, changes you. The only lasting truth is change.” Olamina begins studying the skills needed to survive outside of the walls and packs a survival bag. When the community is attacked and the walls fall, she finds herself on the outside with her bag, her knowledge, and her dreams. She finds people along the way, other survivors willing to dream with her new forms of community, adapting constantly to ever-changing conditions. Exploring these and other examples from Butler’s work—in addition to studying other aspects of emergence—creates a solid foundation for changing the way we strategize on our path to justice. Finally, we have our collective science-fiction/visionary fiction writing workshops. Our premise is that if we want worlds that work for more of us, we have to have more of us involved in the visioning process. One of the ways we perpetuate individualism is by ideating alone, literally coming up with ideas in solitude and then competing to bring them to life. Our workshops are designed to encourage collaborative ideation. Together we identify issues that are relevant to the local community and build a world in which to explore the issue and possible solutions.