Beyond the urban lens: housing access as a key to rural revitalization
This article frames access to rural housing as a social emergency obscured by urban-centric perspectives. It highlights the recent institutional shift in public policy that acknowledges a structural crisis and calls for specific policies for rural and island areas. The study, comparative and longitudinal in four rural municipalities affected by significant depopulation processes (Bot, Belorado, Fuentes de León and Tragacete), combines statistical and quantitative indicators with qualitative information gathered from 25 in-depth interviews with local stakeholders, to understand a market shaped by economic, cultural and symbolic tensions – fueled by the “rural idyll” – and by the impact of contemporary mobilities driving tourism activity. The key finding is a shortage of housing supply, especially for annual rentals: an abundance of vacant and deteriorated dwellings, fragmented ownership, the absence of private development and limited public capacity, while, at the same time, demand for second homes and tourist uses is growing, which drives up prices. Proposed measures include housing recovery, mediation and transparency, tourism management, residential innovation and multi-level cooperation. The conclusion stresses the need for integral, fair, and place-based responses to guarantee the right to remain in or return to rural areas.
SDG
Soledad Morales PérezEconomic and Business Studies (UOC). Xarxa UOC Rural Academic Coordinator Professor of the UOC and the Economic and Business Studies of the same university, PI (principal investigator) and academic coordinator of the Xarxa UOC Rural (Rural UOC Network) and director of the university master degree in Sustainable Tourism and ICT. As the principal investigator of the Rural UOC Network, she defines the Network’s knowledge strategy, its linkage to the UOC’s research and teaching ecosystem related to contemporary rural challenges, and leads two ongoing competitive projects and two more within the framework of R&D&i. She is part of the European Commission’s Rural Pact Coordination Group. She seeks to be an active voice in academic and social spaces that promote a critical and innovative perspective on the rural world and knowledge. In parallel, she develops her research in the NOUTUR group (SGR 2023), from which she has obtained competitive financing as PI of national (ECCOLTUR, EPTUR) and European (IDEATE) projects, as well as numerous transfer contracts. This work has enabled her to open new lines of study into the impact of ICT on tourism and the potential of the collaborative economy in shaping new social geographies.
Josep Lladós-MasllorensDegree and doctorate in Economic and Business Sciences from the University of Barcelona. Associate professor and member of the research group Digital Business Research (DigiBiz), recognized as a consolidated group by the Agency for Management of University and Research Grants (AGAUR). He has held various posts of academic responsibility at the UOC and has taken part in several research projects relating to the effects of digital technological change on the labour market, as well as publishing articles related to this topic and presenting reports to institutions such as the he Council for Labour, Economy and Social Affairs of Catalonia, CaixaBank and Barcelona Activa, among others.
