Toxic chemicals glow in the dark. Abandoned Victorian homes are probably haunted. Pandas are sweet and cuddly. And of course, aliens are little green men.

Even if you know these ideas aren’t technically true, if you grew up surrounded by popular culture in the US, you probably recognize them. 

The beliefs, feelings, perceptions, and ideas that a community shares is often called an “imaginary”. We can share imaginaries around anything – technology, politics, space and time, the environment. And they’re immersive. They’re usually so deeply embedded in our identities and assumptions about the world, that even though we rarely notice them, they’re influencing what we think of as important, valuable, or even achievable.

The most dominant imaginaries of a culture can shape everything from laws to the way a city is built. By noticing and questioning the forces that shape our collective imaginations, we have a much better chance at expanding our shared idea of what’s possible.