The Politics of Enclaves | London, 2 May 2018

Launch of Economic Science Fictions

As the quest for economic and ecological security grows more urgent, the idea of the ‘enclave’ takes on a rising political significance. However it is steeped in ambivalence. The creation of spaces that are separate from the capitalist economy has long been a utopian and ‘real utopian’ mission, producing ideas and projects for alternative currencies, ownership structures, housing design and forms of collective control. Living experiments inform different ways of organising the economy and the city. But at the same time, ‘enclaves’ are becoming a fantasy for libertarians and the super-rich, who seek ways of avoiding the full consequences of social, economic and environmental upheaval, and seek out parallel communities at sea or even in space. What counts as dystopian or utopian can depend on which side of a border one is positioned. Either way, the idea of separating a given space from normality is central to the imagination of science fiction.

Economic Science Fictions is a new volume of essays exploring the overlap between the economic imagination and science fiction, in economics, fiction, design fiction and utopian (and dystopian) political economy. To celebrate the publication of the book, this event will explore the politics of enclaves from the perspective of urban design and science fiction, so as to cast different light on the anxieties and hopes of the present.

Speakers:

• Will Davies – Co-Director, PERC, and Editor of Economic Science Fictions
• Owen Hatherley – writer and contributor to Economic Science Fictions
• Una McCormack – SF novelist and Co-Director of the Anglia Ruskin Centre for Science Fiction and Fantasy