Rural abandonment is an increasing reality. It is also a key driver of politics in many countries, with votes being increasingly differentiated between city and countryside; and votes in the countryside being increasingly extremist. One of the latest examples is the cancellation of rural bus lines over the entirety of west Canada: ‘Decline of Greyhound service mirrors rural Canada’s plight‘.
A few years ago, with the the rise of internet, visionaries were considering rather the contrary, with city people moving back to rural places, creating life again there, and working remotely from home. There are still regularly a few stories about such experiences, but more often, people are just moving from larger to smaller cities for an improved lifestyle.
As of now, rural abandonment seems in general to increase, and additional forces tend to reinforce the trend:
- agricultural work seems increasingly ripe to robotisation, as work is performed in a relatively simple environment, and GPS based optimisation can increase yield significantly,
- weaker government resources reduce subsidization of rural public services
- the mix of ideas is much better in cities, creating additional value and an increasing value gap
- in a negative cycle, the loss of basic businesses and services in rural areas makes life harder and increases the migration to local towns
The rural territory is an asset and should not be seen as a burden or just as a playground for city folks. Some isolated initiatives give new economic life to certain territories but they are still far apart.
This issue of rural abandonment needs to be addressed proactively by governments: otherwise the burden of maintenance will increase dramatically. I am looking forward to hear about possible initiatives.
