Building Vibrant, Connected, and Resilient Societies Residency

Margaret Levi, a Bellagio Center Resident alum, has called for a new moral political economy built around “expanded communities of fate.” The core of this idea is that humans thrive when we recognize that all of our futures are intertwined, and act accordingly through all aspects of society.

The Rockefeller Foundation believes that the pillars of policy, business, and an evolution in our social mores must all be harnessed to overcome this challenge.

In 2025 we are focused on addressing three core challenges to building vibrant, connected, and resilient societies: The challenge of making decisions collectively, especially at a moment when democracy feels under threat; the challenge of inventing and using technologies that have the power to reshape society in a positive way, when we’ve seen their simultaneous divisive and corrosive power; and the challenge of building solidarity across generations, when people are living longer than they ever have been while prospects for younger generations seem so uncertain.

We encourage applications that make opportunity universal and sustainable, including applications by and for people from the Global South, women, and other marginalized groups.

The sub-themes for the 2025 building resilient societies residency application included:

The Future of Democracy

Half of the world’s population – roughly 4 billion people – live in locations that will take to the polls in 2024, choose their elected leaders and shape their governments. Meanwhile, democracy remains an institution consistently under threat globally. We must ensure that democratic processes are fair, transparent, stable, and ensure effective citizen participation across the globe.

Technology that Supports Humanity

Advances in artificial intelligence, biotechnology, the machine/brain interface, and other areas will rapidly change our societies, economies, and even our concepts of what it means to be human. We must find ways to harness the benefits of these technologies while avoiding and managing their risks.

Bridging Generations

In the coming years, the population distribution of many of the world’s countries, especially in the global north, will be shifting dramatically older, while the youth population in other countries booms. We must grapple with and address the dynamic that power tends to rest disproportionately in the older generations while the younger generations face the consequences of the climate crisis set in motion before their birth, and uncertainty in many areas of their lives.