The Greeks created the agoras. The agora of Athens is the reputed birthplace of democracy. The idea of reviving participatory democracy based on the Greek agora was developed by Aleco Christakis, Bela H. Banathy, and others in the 1996 to 2000 Asilomar conversations of the International Systems Institute (ISI).

Bela H. Banathy later developed this concept in his book, Guided Evolution of Society: a Systems Perspective, Kluwer Academic, 2000. Since then Bela and members of ISI have established the Agora Project that promotes new agoras of the 21st century www.21stcenturyagora.org. The Agora Project seeks "to reinvent the public sphere as an assemblage of 'New Agoras' that exist both face-to-face and in cyberspace." It provides a philosophy, a knowledge base, yearly conferences, and links to like-minded organizations. It is a catalyst for designing "evolutionary guidance systems" for families, neighborhoods, community groups, and organizations.

The Institute for 21st Century Agoras advances agoras for local, regional, national, and international arenas. Using Co-Laboratories of Democracy, it fosters mutual respect among diverse stakeholders, identifies the roots of complex situations, and generates consensual action plans out of diverse, individual thinking. In forums large and small, these co-laboratories lay the foundations for functioning agoras that can meet their local challenges and hook up with like-minded communities.