Refilling the "emptied Spain"

Anonymous

April 26, 2023

This image was generated with Dream Studio AI.

The lack of job opportunities in rural areas of Spain has caused the migration of a large part of its population from rural areas to larger cities. This situation has caused what is known as the "emptied Spain", where a great part of Spanish small villages are being abandoned and only the elderly stay there. This reduction of population also carries the reduction of services offered in these areas (such as banks, supermarkets, education or health care) leaving the scarce number of people that still live there with even more reasons to migrate.

However, these small villages already have the infraestructure for larger numbers of people to live there, as most of them have a lot of houses that used to be inhabited but are now empty. A change I would like to see implemented in my home country is a better distribution of the Spanish population throughout the whole territory of the country, so that the congestion that bigger cities are experiencing now could also be solved and people that enjoy the benefits of living in rural areas could have the opportunity to make a life in there.

Politicians and other leaders should be the first ones to encourage this new migration tendency, as the current dinamics are deeply related to economic and job related issues, and opportunities should be created in rural areas. People that are currently online-working could also receive incentives to move to rural areas and establish in there. This way, the current "emptied Spain" could be refilled and the Spanish population would be more fairly distributed.

related stories

Tehnoloogia areng

Health is the most important thing for a person to stay alive. Timely access to medical care is very poor today. I am very hopeful of advances in technology that will give people the possibility of timely diagnosis and treatment of illness by an artificial arm. After all, the situation today is that a doctor prescribes a diagnosis and medication to a patient based on the symptoms described by the patient over the phone or in an e-health centre without seeing the person. The development of a self-driving car service would provide people with better mobility, regardless of where they live, their age or their state of health.

valoisa tulvaisuus

I would like the future to be happy and secure, instead of gloomy as it seems to be now. In the future, AI would do the boring and dangerous jobs and leave the art to competent, knowledgeable people. A future where more emphasis would be placed on people's mental well-being rather than driving them into a constant spiral of fatigue and depression. The working hours should be shorter than the basic 8 hours so there would be enough work for more people and the wages should be raised to a level where the rent can be paid with those hours. This would leave more time for hobbies and future development.

Green cities

You could really see the changes now, she thought as she walked down the street. After over ten years with self driving EVs and robotaxis, the cities had changed so much. Parking lots, no longer needed, were replaced by parks with trees, flowers, bees and birds. The air was filled with scents, you never could sense before when the air was filled with exhaustion fumes. Even though some fossil fuel vehicles remained, they were not allowed within cities any longer. And the previous traffic noises were replaced by the sound of laughter from children playing, the ripple of water, birds singing and some buskers playing in the distance. Everywhere you could see buildings with solar panels and for the last ten years, all windows worked like solar panels too. Combined with batteries, it provided cities with a stable electricity supply, even when extreme weather hit.

Politik der Mitte

Left-wing parties were banned after the 2025 election disaster and democratic, center-right politics now prevail. The economy is booming, taxes have been lowered, those who don't want to work have to see how they can manage themselves, support from the state is only available in the event of incapacity to work through no fault of one's own (illness, etc.). More emphasis was placed on education, infrastructure and digitalization, and the path has proven to be the right one. You can live well on your salary and in principle don't have to do without anything. Refugees were no longer accepted and all unauthorized persons were deported, which has greatly reduced the crime rate. People can move around safely in public again.

#OurFutures

Refilling the "emptied Spain"

Join #OurFutures now!