Spaces of Hope

A study of the idea and practicability of utopia. It examines why five centuries of utopian schemes to create a more just world were discredited or failed. It considers what might be rescued from utopian ideas, and whether this can be translated into an achievable politics of equality.

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In this work, David Harvey seeks to breathe new life into the idea and the practicability of utopia. He unites the discourses of the body and globalization to explain how and why the notion that "there is no alternative" to inequality and injustice now dominates contemporary politics and ideology. He examines why five centuries of utopian schemes to create a more just world were discredited or failed, or both, and considers what might be rescued from utopian ideas, and whether this could be translated into an achievable politics of justice and equality. He argues that any such politics must be consistent with the dynamics of social change, human nature, and the continued existence of the nature itself. The work concludes with a vision of a utopian society during the beginning of the next millennium.