“Our task is to reach out into the future and to pull it into the present, because we have run out of time. In Glimpses of Utopia Jess Scully directs us towards the kind of compelling vision we need, in the understanding that we are living in an imperfect world.”
— Christiana Figueres, The Future We Choose
Glimpses of Utopia: Real Ideas for a Fairer World is an exploration of innovative global policy and social movements translated into accessible and motivating stories for a broad audience. The projects in Glimpses empower people and communities to build a future we can be excited about: from participatory democracy to power bottom-up decision making, to for-purpose finance drawn from ancient traditions, structures for fairness in land use and collaborative city-making, and much more.
Glimpses of Utopia was shortlisted in the Australian Book Industry Awards in 2021.
“Remarkably invigorating — a collection of eminently practical ideas, from a writer who has done the nitty gritty work of making change herself. And if we were able to join together to make them happen, our world would change. As we emerge from the pandemic, this is precisely the kind of thinking that we need.”
— Bill McKibben, Deep Economy
Reviews, interviews and podcasts about Glimpses of Utopia
Podcasts
Achieving change needs hope, Big Ideas, ABC Radio National, 2021
Jess Scully on Establishing a Framework for a Fairer World, At A Distance Podcast, 2020
Jess Scully on how a better world is possible in ‘Glimpses of Utopia’, Good Reading Podcast, 2020
Reviews & inteviews
Mark Thomas, Canberra Times, 5 December 2020:
“Glimpses of Utopia bristles and bustles with ideas. Scully recognises that "all the chips are stacked against change", but marshals her arguments for reform thoroughly and cogently.”Fiona Capp, Sydney Morning Herald, 17 July 2020:
“The kind of utopia Jess Scully is talking about isn’t the old-style top-down master-plan but the organic, grass-roots variety. Scully casts a wide net to find inspiring working models.”Caring in Mind, The Saturday Paper, 1 August 2020:
“Since becoming the deputy lord mayor of Sydney, Jess Scully has continued her fight for social equality. As she pushes for affordable housing and investment in the ‘caring economy’, she remains hopeful of instituting long-lasting change. ‘I think there’s an opportunity for us right now to make sure that participatory democracy and the care economy and affordable housing are some of the things that become practical, real projects.’”Scrapping old business models for a mutual future, Co-op News, 16 August 2020:
“Her combination of policy awareness and creative curation meet in Glimpses of Utopia through presenting stories of co-operation and mutual activity as real, achievable ideas for a fairer society. And now is the time to do that, she says. ‘All over the world, people are refusing the business-as-usual mindset and putting humans back into the civic equation, reimagining work and care, finance and government, urban planning and communication, to make them better and fairer for all.’”
“Jess Scully has scoured the world for the best ideas to fix this mess we’re in. I found myself scribbling in the margins of each page, nodding enthusiastically and talking about what I’d just read with whomever would listen.”
— Jess Hill, See What You Made Me Do
“Read this book and feel excited about what might lie ahead.”
— Damon Gameau, 2040
“Glimpses of Utopia provided me the rarest thing in these grim times: hope. For the first time in so long, it shook me out of despondency, and made me excited and galvanised by the potential future of democracy.”
— Benjamin Law, writer and broadcaster