kindlaga

Kindlaga is a term used in speculative fiction to describe a decentralized, cooperative model of community organization. In these narratives, a kindlaga community operates as a voluntary association in which resources, labor, and decision-making are shared among members through open, participatory processes. The concept is often presented as an antidote to extractive economies and centralized governance.

Governance in a kindlaga framework tends to rely on consensus or sociocratic methods, with rotating delegates and explicit mechanisms for conflict resolution. Property and knowledge are commonly organized as commons, with tools, land, and digital resources accessible to members while remaining governed by agreed rules.

Economy is typically based on mutual aid and commoning rather than market-based exchange; local currencies or time banking may support collaboration. Infrastructure emphasizes resilience and low environmental impact, including distributed energy grids, shared workshops, and open-source hardware and software, enabling self-sufficiency with low external inputs.

Culture prioritizes collective learning, elder mentorship, and intergenerational crafts. Kindlaga communities often host annual gatherings, skill-sharing circles, and cooperative ventures that cross local networks, reinforcing social ties and knowledge transfer.

In fictional settings, kindlaga is used as a lens to explore cooperation, governance, and sustainability, while also inviting critique of romanticized communal models and the practical challenges of scale, security, and coordination.

No real-world organization uses the term outside fiction; the concept appears in speculative literature, games, and thought experiments. See also: commons, consensus governance, open-source ecology.