This article examines the gap between the universal right to healthcare and its actual accessibility in rural areas. We present twelve technological initiatives that could enhance service provision, categorized using a conceptual framework that considers the type of technology, maturity level, main type of care and urgency. The primary aim is to foster a public debate on the transformations needed to ensure equitable access without increasing environmental impact or unit costs, and exploring their implications in economic, operational, and public policy terms.

This text provides a reflection on the intersections between socio-cultural imaginaries, economic development and ruralities. The author proposes that we are experiencing a mediatization of rural that circulates discourses that replicate an extractivist interpretative frame. This is a logic in which the rural is understood as a space that produces and provides food, energy, fun or relaxation. It is a narrative that lacks reproductive and regenerative dynamics. The author proposes developing a new form of storytelling in and within rural areas, one detached from this interpretive framework. Culture and media, including journalism, are places for innovation in this sense. One possibility is to integrate the values of critical posthumanism into the imaginary of a “resituated rural”. For this, there is a need for media coverage that investigates the relationship between human and other-than-human agencies: animals, plants, materialities. Culture and critical thought play a role in making visible projects grounded in integrative epistemologies. Beyond the stories of the collapse, the text proposes that this narrative must be affirmative and must seek alliances to build a resilient rural in the face of the climate crisis, the loss of biodiversity and precariousness. It is not just a change of storytelling, but a storytelling for change.

In 2021, the European Commission published the long-term vision for the EU’s rural areas (LTVRA), a key political initiative outlining a roadmap to help rural areas become stronger, resilient, connected, and prosperous by 2040. It consists of the EU Rural Action Plan, which incorporates specific initiatives such as the European Rural Pact, rural proofing, the EU Rural Observatory, and the EU toolkit on rural funding. Central to advancing this agenda, the Rural Pact Coordination Group issued a Declaration on the Future of Rural Areas, calling for more coherent multi-policy approaches, targeted funding within the EU budget, and enhanced local capacities through simplified access to resources, capacity-building, and community-led development. Further, the European Commission’s proposal for the 2028-2034 Multiannual Financial Framework aligns rural priorities with National and Regional Partnership Plans, mandating active engagement of rural stakeholders in their design and execution. This article discusses the importance of turning the rural vision into action across national, regional, and local levels and highlights recommendations from rural stakeholders to influence the future of rural policies in Europe.

Digitalization, labour flexibility, and the expansion of remote work have transformed how we work and live. These changes, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, have led to a rethinking of the relationship between work, leisure, and rest. In this context, rural areas have regained prominence as spaces of well-being, sustainability, and quality of life. Through a qualitative study based on in-depth interviews with five digital workers from rural municipalities, this research explores how they experience remote work from these environments, the benefits and challenges they face, and how their presence can help revitalize these territories. The findings show a positive view of remote work in rural settings, where individuals seek peace and calm, enabling them to be more productive during working hours and enjoy higher-quality leisure and rest.

This article examines the Rural Agenda of Catalonia as a strategic policy instrument aimed at addressing the structural inequalities affecting rural areas. It traces the Agenda’s emergence, planning and implementation, while situating it within the broader European policy framework. Particular attention is given to Challenge 4 of the Agenda, which focuses on the agri-food system. The article demonstrates how the actions derived from the Agenda are integrated within a wider strategic approach, and how specific policy tools could become key mechanisms for promoting the reagrarianization of rural territories and the relocalization of food systems. The analysis highlights a set of innovative instruments that support generational succession in agriculture, progressive pathways into farming, and the economic viability of small-scale farms and local food processing projects. Although these initiatives operate primarily at the local scale, the article argues that the coordinated responses promoted by the Agenda have the potential to generate transformative effects beyond the local level.

This article explores how three generations of families dedicated to peasantry and the primary sector in Central Catalonia live, work, and relate to the land. Using qualitative methods such as life stories and in-depth interviews, and ensuring confidentiality due to the small size of these municipalities, we trace continuity and transformations in labour practices, and relations with cattle, clients, suppliers, and institutions. The trajectories reveal three key milestones. First, increasing technification and mass production aimed at standardizing processes and lowering margins. Second, a shift back towards a new form of localized production (last mile) based on direct trust and product quality, despite regulatory challenges. Third, diversification into the service sector, providing “authentic experiences” and supplementary activities to support the family economy. The generational perspective helps us understand how trades and lifestyles are inherited, how technification policies, regulations, and processes are shaped and work is redefined, and the uncertainties that arise when the continuity of family farms is uncertain. The paper concludes that the challenge of sustaining livelihoods solely through land work leads to hybrid strategies combining production, proximity, and services – within a context marked by strict regulations and market pressures that tend to concentrate food production in the hands of a few very large companies.

This article analyses the expanding role of social and solidarity economy (SSE) in transforming modern ruralities in Catalonia. Far from being marginal or sectoral responses, SSE initiatives have become structural proposals capable of influencing sustainability, social cohesion, cultural production, and economic democratization in rural areas. The article argues that the transformative potential of SSE resides not only in its local actions but also in its capacity to connect through networks with other projects, institutions, and public policies. This relational network helps to overcome territorial fragmentation, rethink centre–periphery dynamics, and foster collaborative governance. The text combines analytical and proactive approaches, referencing processes such as the development of the Network of Cooperative Atheneums (Xarxa d’Ateneus Cooperatius), the approval of the Statute of Rural Municipalities Act, and case studies including El Refugi and La Traça Cultural. From this perspective, SSE emerges as a dynamic ecosystem providing socio-economic, cultural, and institutional infrastructures to address major contemporary challenges and to envision viable, fair, and sustainable rural futures.

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.

Female entrepreneurship in rural areas is crucial for sustainable territorial development, but it also faces challenges such as gender inequalities, educational gaps, and structural barriers. This article, based on the progress of the FIDER_Rural project, funded by the Rural UOC Network’s Rural Research Accelerator, explores the context and factors influencing the relationships among economic well-being, financial literacy, and strategic decision-making among rural women entrepreneurs in Spain. It addresses five key areas: personal entrepreneurial experiences; the impact of financial education; structural barriers (digital, cultural, and resource access); specific training needs; and a broader view of financial well-being, including autonomy and sustainability. Using a qualitative, multidimensional approach, the study combines recent research, direct testimonials, and institutional best practices. It concludes with proposals for developing public policies, tailored training programmes aligned with local needs, and support networks that recognize rural female entrepreneurship as a driver of economic transformation, social cohesion, and territorial justice.