This paper is rooted in the hypothesis that utopias can be usefully understood as spaces in which we can be different (Moylan, 1986; Sargisson, 1999). They are spaces in which we can begin to think differently, play with alternatives, explore ideas to their limits - and from which, perhaps, we can approach the world with a fresh viewpoint. Utopias permit us radically to change the way that we think. Once that process has begun, we can, perhaps, begin to act in ways that are sustainably different.