Autopoiesis, a term coined by Chilean biologists and philosophers Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela in the 1970s, refers to the self-generating and self-sustaining nature of living systems, emphasizing how organisms continuously reproduce and maintain themselves through internal processes. The term, derived from the Greek words auto (self) and poiesis (creation or production), signifies the ability of a system to define and regulate itself independently. In decolonial and design theory, thinkers like Arturo Escobar extend this concept to social and cultural systems, particularly in relation to autonomous design and communal world-making. For instance, Indigenous and Afro-descendant communities resisting extractive economies and globalized development models are practicing autopoiesis by maintaining their own…