Perspective: In rural Spain, people want to bring abandoned villages back to life
Laundry dries in the sun, close to the solar panels in the backyard of the off-grid community of Barchel on Aug. 8, 2021. Seven years ago, a group of young people started an eco-community in the ruins of a farm that was abandoned for more than 40 years. Villages in Spain’s sparsely inhabited interior are attempting a repopulation.
Increased climate awareness has resulted in a revaluation of rural areas, which has been given an extra boost by theIn addition to depopulation, a reverse movement is also underway, in which people want to bring abandoned rural villages back to life. For instance, Didac Costa bought the ruins of a hamlet in national park La Garrotxa with the dream to create an eco-village. So far, he’s rebuilt one of the houses, where he lives alone.
At the same time, tensions between individuals, and “being able to sacrifice your own ego and self to the common good,” as Almu Casino Navarra explains, are among the challenges.