I just finished reading Parable of The Sower, and while it’s probably one of the greatest books I’ve ever read, most of the book is focused on survival in a world where every random homeless person and drug user wants to kill the protagonist (you can tell it was written shortly after the crack epidemic and when there was a lot of panic about crime). It was strange that most of the book was just about survival. The protagonist knew they must build something new, but they never quite got to that point in the book.
There doesn’t seem to be much aspirational speculative fiction where people start building something better after a collapse of society and speculates how that may be done or how the new society may function.
The only fiction I can think of off the top of my head that covers a little bit about rebuilding society is the movie The Postman that I watched when I was a kid (I don’t remember if it was good or not). Perhaps Parable of the Talents actually does start covering the building of a better society? (But I read an excerpt, and it looks like it’s going to be, very presciently, about a murderous christian nationalist movement that wants to “make America great again”). I know there’s stuff like Star Trek, but that’s mostly set long after the rebuild; it doesn’t cover in-depth how they got to that point (AFAIK).
A great balm in tone and structure is A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers.
The crash hasn’t happened, but people have moved on and constructed a mostly functioning new world. The plot and climax are also appropriately sized - they are about people not an apocalypse.
To Be Taught, If Fortunate is another of hers that’s fantastic, and focuses on society working together towards the greater good
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Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson might fit the kind of tone you’re going for. The whole book is about restructuring society to combat climate change, but there’s no actual apocalypse in the traditional sense. The first chapter is one of the most harrowing things I’ve ever read, which does set the scene for what’s to come and shows why the changes they make are necessary.
Just finished the Three Body Problem trilogy. That may be something that fits your ask
Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Children of Time series is very good. It fits what you’re asking for as it explores the concepts of society and humanity.
Everything for Everyone: An Oral History of the New York Commune, 2052–2072
I came here to say this.
The first chapter is strange in a meta way, where they take too seriously that this book is an oral history and talk about its formatting etc… I almost stopped reading lol
But it’s a great aspirational post apocalyptic rebuilding book and the rest of it is weird in a very good way. Highly recommend!
I think what you’re looking for is the Three Californias series by Kim Stanley Robinson.
Earth Abides by George R. Stewart comes to mind
I read a book called Seveneves (Or maybe Seven Eves?). It’s deals with apocalypse and rebuilding afterward. It’s interesting at least.
The Hands Of The Emperor by Victoria Goddard focuses on the rebuilding of the (a) world after an apocalyptic type disaster. It focuses on a small handful of people and their work. It’s the first in a series (the Lays of the Hearthfire) and is a segue into a ton of Nine Worlds stories
Two suggestions that fit in rather oblique ways: Canticle for Leibowitz, and Cities in Flight
