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).
Cory Doctorow’s “Walkaway” may fit, depending on what you’re after.
Society hasn’t collapsed exactly but they are building something new from scraps of deserted technology far away from civilisation. The setting is near-future, their motto: “The first days of a better nation.” It is about a group building their own bed&breakfast for themselves and others to escape from the “default” society. There is a global support network of others attempting the same. They build in old ruins with 3D printers and abandoned fuel cells.
(Another topic of the book is mind uploading. The book is all on earth, no space travel. The main focus is on politics and society and a cultural rebellion against old money. I think the main characters are a bit weak in the sense that they are too similar and I sometimes confused them and it didn’t matter. But it was still fun to read for the political ideas being spelled and acted out, and yes, for the enthusiasm of building something new.)
The Great Transition by Nick Fuller Googins
https://www.nickfg.com/the-great-transition
Takes place after climate change has destroyed much of the planet and a semi-anarchist government (think The Dispossessed) is trying to rebuild. Also somewhat focused on a WNBA team based in Greenland, interesting angle
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.
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.
Seveneves kind of touches on rebuilding although it skips decades and centuries. Lucifer’s Hammer deals with the aftermath of a global disaster and includes some rebuilding… kind of. Alas, Babylon explores a post-nuclear world. None of them are particularly optimistic except Seveneves (in a way), but it also doesn’t explore rebuilding in a lot of detail. Since you’re already reading Octavia Butler, you can try Lilith’s Brood, but it won’t be anything like rebuilding the modern world. Asimov’s Foundation series is about rebuilding at a galactic scale but I’m not sure they aged particularly well.
If you’re interested in building specifically you can try Kim Stanley Robinson’s Red Mars.
In addition: Children of Time might scratch the itch in a way since it’s about the development of a sentient species. I think the sequel explores more building, but i haven’t read it yet and the reviews are kind of mixed
I think the Mars trilogy by KSR is probably exactly what they are looking for
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.
Station Eleven takes place over a decade after a catastrophe, and has an unusual accepting-optimistic tone to it. Since it has been so long, people mellowed out, communities are slowly rebuilding (and rediscovering technology), and although there are some weirdos, it’s not the stereotypical Mad Max post-apocalypse.
A classic oldie would be Starhawk’s Fifth Sacred Thing.
Eta-this is also a favorite genre of mine!
