ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the imagination, to bring ecological economics down from the macro-level to the plane of lived experience using one of utopianism’s greatest assets. In particular, it involves trying to picture what a circular economy would be like in terms of practical wellbeing and community life. People-planet urban planning will focus on designing cities which enhance community life rather than meeting business needs. In a people-planet utopia, housing will be a basic human right and a democratically agreed property ratio will ensure that this is a reality, not a hollow political aspiration. Educational organizations in general will become important research centres for communities and for many aspect of practical life. The school curriculum is likely to shift towards life skills, as our definition of economics changes. In a properly managed economy, community life becomes safer, more rewarding and better balanced, creating potential gains in life satisfaction across the spectrum.
