Abstract

This article examines the utopianism of Kim Stanley Robinson's 2017 sf novel New York 2140, the world of which is defined by a nexus of profound climatological disasters. In contrast to other texts in the growing cli-fi genre, Robinson's seemingly apocalyptic world is a representation of a disaster utopia—real-world networks of care, compassion, collaboration, and utopian joy that emerge in the wake of disasters. In New York 2140 Robinson explores the valences of disaster utopianism beyond its contemporary, exceptional appearances, contemplating how communities can flourish in a world where disaster emerges as a direct result of capitalist precarity and inequality. The article situates New York 2140 within a newly emerging corpus of cultural work that calls for a direct confrontation with the destructive powers of the present by understanding utopia as a precarious and never-finished form of resistance to neoliberal late capitalism.