Writing this thesis has been a more solitary process than the shared, collaborative practices it is about. Yet in the spirit of prefiguration, many have generously inspired and supported this venture. Named or not, my work is the result of their work, except any imperfections which are strictly my own.

Joost de Bloois has made the greatest efforts of patience and attentiveness over the years, whose supervision has been indispensable to bring this project to completion. Johan Hartle and Jeroen de Kloet have equally enhanced this process with their complementing perspectives and styles. Eloe Kingma and Jantine van Gogh have provided the caring environment that made ASCA safe havens in these stormy times. I am deeply thankful to ASCA directors, Christoph Lindner, Patricia Pisters and Esther Peeren for their trust, and to the ASCA Fellowship Committee for enabling generous financial support for this project. Thanks to the members of the Doctorate Committee for dedicating precious time to read and to scrutinise my work.

Among my peers, I am hugely grateful to my paranymphs Thijs and Rana, as well as Mikki and Aylin. Without you, I would have never considered starting this journey, let alone been able to complete it. Miriam, Simon, Peyman, Alexandre, Tim, Lucy, Joana, Julian, Mert and Hülya made me feel less alone during the ups and downs of this adventure. Much appreciation to postcapitalist designers Dave Hakkens, Mattia Bernini, Jesse Howard, Thomas Lommée, Till Wolfer, Mathieu Grosche and the POC21 crew, who all kindly accepted to become my objects of study. Thanks to Tommy, Stephen, Maartje, Ntea and Monique for helping me build OpenDesk furniture. Thank you Kees for supporting the layout design.

Having little patience to work behind a desk, I have been most productive while on the road, in the pursuit of postcapitalist ways of living. I have vivid memories of my writing retreats in Berlin, Paris, Barcelona, Venice, Querceto, Olot, Ankara and Çeşme, as well as conferences, summits and festivals I attended in Weimar, Leipzig, Bolzano, Copenhagen and Istanbul. Kind hospitality of friends and blessed encounters with like-minded thinkers and practitioners along the way have all contributed to my (combative) optimism.

Outside the academic and design spheres, many colleagues, comrades and commoners have enriched this research, not to mention this person. JJ and Isa of the Laboratory of Insurrectionary Imagination have been my militant mentors and a constant source of influence for exploring intersections between creativity, ecology and politics. Credit is also due to Silke Helfrich and David Bollier for being such exemplary scholar-commoners. The boundless companionship of Philip, Kevin, Emma, Tim, Teresa, Cemre, Lara, Sinan and Alideniz is hidden between the lines.

Countless other comrades (who shall remain anonymous) have given me the confidence to imagine postcapitalist futures. Shout out to all the co-conspirators and troublemakers at codeROOD, Ende Gelände, Climate Justice Action, Climate Games, Fossil Free Culture NL and Queers4Climate NL, just to name a few. If my research took several years longer than intended, it is because I kept getting lured into organising disobedient climate justice campaigns. No regrets.[1]

Duygu, not only have you been a lifelong caring friend, but you also selflessly assisted me as coach and editor for this manuscript. Your place and worth are immeasurable. My Woehoe housemates and NieuwLand community deserve the greatest praise, for they have provided me with an everyday utopia, the visceral experience of postcapitalist living and the joys of luxury communism. Last but not least, this work is dedicated to my parents: