VDAO Ep.4 : Pop-Up Cities, Membership Models & Network Societies with Chance McAllister

The gist

Chance McAllister explores network states not as literal sovereign nations but as communities—from Discord groups to pop-up cities to permanent hubs—united by shared agency and purpose. Drawing on historical parallels with Mennonite migrations and early civil societies, he argues that successful network communities succeed through pragmatism: understanding what value they bring to jurisdictions, solving real local problems, and negotiating mutually beneficial arrangements rather than pursuing exit-based separatism.

Key takeaways

• Network states are an umbrella term, not a fixed definition—including DAOs, pop-up cities, digital nomad communities, and membership-based organizations that span the spectrum from libertarian exit projects to micro-exit initiatives within existing systems.

• Pop-up cities emerged from concrete need: After Vitalik Buterin and the Ethereum community recognized crypto's conference circuit was inefficient, they created Zuzulu Montenegro (2023) as a model for 100-200 people gathering for 1-2 months in a single location; this spawned 60+ similar experiments in just a few years.

• The Mennonite historical model offers pragmatic lessons: For 500+ years, Mennonites successfully negotiated with jurisdictions (Catherine the Great's Russia, 1920s Saskatchewan, Quebec) by clearly communicating who they were, what value they brought (exceptional farming), and what they needed (religious freedom, separate schools, pacifism exemptions)—not by demanding sovereignty.

• Membership stack competition matters more than citizenship: Mennonites historically prioritized their religious membership above citizenship, treating jurisdictions as negotiable partners. Similarly, contemporary network communities are experimenting with novel membership models that compete with and sometimes supersede traditional national identity.

• Rural depopulation creates mutual opportunity: Jurisdictions worldwide face "distressed" depopulated areas with fixed infrastructure costs regardless of population. Network communities bringing people, productivity, and tax revenue to these areas create genuine win-win scenarios (example: Network School in a hotel; Frontier Tower in San Francisco's commercial real estate).

• The wealth criticism is partially but not entirely valid: While pop-ups do require money to attend, projects increasingly subsidize exceptional talent (the "Ramanujan types"). Diversity is growing—McAllister encountered physics PhDs from India and other non-elite participants, contradicting the "summer camp for the wealthy" narrative.

• Pragmatism beats ideology: Successful models focus on solving specific jurisdictional problems rather than grand sovereignty claims. Local governments closer to the ground understand their constraints better and are more willing to negotiate if a community solves their problems.

• The suburb historical analogy is instructive: Suburbs emerged because of specific technological conditions (cars, cheap gas, roads, trains). Similarly, network communities emerged from internet maturity, remote work, digital nomadism, and growing-up-online. The open question: Are we minting a fundamental new social model or experiencing a historical anomaly?

Notable quotes

• "It really is an umbrella term for orgs and movement and initiatives that have agency or sense people have a sense of agency that they think they can make changes around something." — Chance McAllister

• "Network state is an umbrella for a bunch of things...people who are looking to help how do you make sense of the world now? How do you thrive in the world now? How do you make changes that make the world a better place?" — Chance McAllister

• "The reality is much messier, but in that messiness is kind of hope...everybody in every jurisdiction has problems, and people want to solve those problems." — Chance McAllister

Worth a full listen?

Listen to the full episode if you're interested in network state history, community design, or how digital-age organizing might learn from 500 years of Mennonite negotiation strategy; the TLDR captures the core insights but the podcast includes fascinating tangents on civil society, suburbs, and membership models worth exploring in audio form.