A good place to start for such stories is in the contrast between solarpunk and cyberpunk. They feel like natural polar opposites.
Have the world be partially solarpunk and partially cyberpunk. Or maybe fully cyberpunk with a growing movement towards something much more hopeful.
Forward 20-50 years. Environmental problems are worse than ever. Big chunks of society are still stuck in the old ways. But big chunks have found lifestyles and technology that have minimal negative impact on the environment. But perhaps there are still tradeoffs. Perhaps there's conflict between those that have power thanks to the old ways and those that promote the new ways.
The Culture series by Iain M Banks. The Culture is a pan-galactic post-scarcity Type I/II civilization of transhumans. The novels often revolve around the dealings with other civilizations of many different tech levels (including medieval and steam age).
One example is the most classic solarpunk novel, the Dispossessed by Ursula Le Guin. It deals with the tension between a capitalist society (not really cyberpunk) and a anarcho socialist outer planet colony on the corresponding moon. It doesn't paint the alternative society as a perfect utopia. It has its strengths and weaknesses. And it deals a lot with the cultural chock of someone who travels between. It doesn't deal that much with environmental issues though.
And I feel like Cory Doctorow's walkaway is a lot like this. I bought it but I haven't gotten into it. His writing style can sometimes throw me off a bit.
Have the world be partially solarpunk and partially cyberpunk. Or maybe fully cyberpunk with a growing movement towards something much more hopeful.
Forward 20-50 years. Environmental problems are worse than ever. Big chunks of society are still stuck in the old ways. But big chunks have found lifestyles and technology that have minimal negative impact on the environment. But perhaps there are still tradeoffs. Perhaps there's conflict between those that have power thanks to the old ways and those that promote the new ways.