✓ Completed projectSummer 2020Talent and community
Bici Ruta Rural B-RUTAL
Over 1,000 km on solar-powered bikes through depopulated Huesca. We interviewed entrepreneurs, remote workers and mayors, and carried out a socio-economic analysis to decide where to base the association. That journey is where it all began.
01 · The idea
Bike, route and rural
We wanted to show the places and people nobody visits, and see first-hand whether it is possible to start a business and live there. That meant going slowly, unhurried and emission-free.
Bikes with solar panels that powered everything we needed on the road: cameras, drone, phones and laptop. Slower transport, but zero CO₂ emissions and much closer to the land and its people.
Around 30 days travelling through every district of the province of Huesca and, in each one, its most depopulated areas. The route changed on the go with the opportunities that came up along the way.
Not just raising awareness: also learning from the villages, getting to know their resources and seeing what business opportunities they offered. Every day we published a log on social media and in the press.
02 · The route
33 days through depopulated Huesca
The actual route, from Luesia to Robres. Tap a village on the map to see when we passed through and watch its drone video or interviews.
03 · The people
72 interviews with people already living rural life
Young farmers, remote workers, craftspeople, mayors, entrepreneurs… Filter by profile to see who we met along the way.
04 · The analysis
A field study to decide where to begin
Besides filming, the route was an on-the-ground socio-economic analysis. In each district we looked at what each village had and what it lacked for someone to live and work there, and used that to decide where to base the association.
What we looked at in each village · tap one
The association settled in Ansó, in the Pyrenees of Huesca. That is where the Rural Tech Centre is today, from where we work to bring technology to the villages.
Discover the Rural Tech Centre →05 · What came out of the journey
A documentary and the birth of the association
With everything we filmed we made a documentary told by people who live depopulation first-hand: their reflections, their stories and the solution that what we saw led us to.
The route was also a field study. It helped us analyse the rural economy and lay the foundations of the association’s thinking: technology as the fourth rural sector, and the barriers that must come down for it to reach the villages.
06 · The B-RUTAL passport
A stamp in every village
We carried a route passport. In each village, the shop, the bar or the town hall stamped it as we passed through.
At the end, we gathered those passports full of stamps and gave them to all the people and companies who helped fund the route. A keepsake of every village that opened its doors to us.
Stamps recreated with villages from the route, as an example.
07 · Who made it possible
Route sponsors
Companies and organisations that supported us with equipment, accommodation, food or funding.
What now?
If your story deserves telling too
We keep interviewing people who live and work in villages. If that is you, or you know someone, let us know.
Tell us your story →Follow us
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