Desarrollo local endógeno y movilidad en áreas rurales periféricas de España y Portugal

PROJECT REFERENCE:  CNS2022-135614

DURATION: 01/09/2023 – 31/08/2025

REALIZATION ENTITY:  Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

FINANCIAL ENTITY / S:   Agencia Estatal de Investigación. Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación

MAIN RESEARCHER: Cristóbal Mendoza Pérez (ULPGC, IATEXT)

COLLABORATORS

  • Josefina Domínguez Mujica (ULPGC, IATEXT)
  • Víctor Jiménez Barrado (ULPGC, IATEXT)
  • Claudio Moreno Media (ULPGC, IATEXT)
  • Juan Manuel Parreño Castellanos (ULPGC, IATEXT)
  • Mercedes Rodríguez Rodríguez (ULPGC, IATEXT)

ABSTRACT:

The project “Endogenous Local Development and Mobilities in Rural Areas of Peripheral Regions of Spain and Portugal (ELDEMOR)”, lasting two years, examines the different types of mobilities and migrations that occur in rural environments (municipalities of less than 2000 inhabitants) in peripheral regions of Spain and Portugal. In particular, it studies the role that new residents can play in the endogenous rural development of the rural municipalities of a border region (the province of Zamora and the district of Trás-os-Montes, on the Spanish-Portuguese border) and of two island environments. (Hierro, in the Canary Islands, and Pico, in the Azores). ELDEMOR proposes that mobilities and migrations in rural areas are complex (multi-residence, daily mobility, temporary migrations, immigration) and imply positive impacts on economic growth, potentially creating new job and business opportunities, as well as on the social fabric, with the entry of young people into aging municipalities. On the other hand, these new residents can also generate new demands and perhaps tensions in the labor and housing markets, as well as in the traditional sociocultural practices of these municipalities. The intersection between different types of mobility and their respective impacts requires a comprehensive approach based on “place”, understood not only as geographical location but as a social construct. In this way, the project promotes a holistic understanding of community well-being, thought in a broad sense, in economic and social terms, and the study of the affirmation of the sense of local belonging. Thanks to this approach, ELDEMOR aims to generate useful lessons for endogenous local development elsewhere in the European Union. In this way, in line with the Horizon Europe Framework Programme, the project helps to identify important economic opportunities for innovative companies and could therefore contribute to competitiveness and employment in rural settings in the EU. Along these same lines, the project also aims to inform those responsible for public policies about migration/mobility patterns and their impacts on economic development in rural areas.

Regarding the expected social impacts, ELDEMOR proposes the study of good local practices aimed at the labor and social incorporation of new residents in areas rural areas, with a view to eventually transferring them to other parts of the European Union. The latter is especially relevant in sparsely populated rural municipalities where there are few historical migration precedents to draw on, particularly when designing or implementing public policy. It is worth highlighting, in this sense, that, although the public debate on migration and freedom of movement has focused mostly on large-scale policies and solutions in the European Union, the reality is that public policies are necessarily embedded in local practices and experiences. . In this sense, the project has the capacity to show the opportunities for endogenous economic development derived from mobility and migration in rural areas and, in this way, will emphasize the contribution that newcomers can make when creating new activities. economics, stimulate the associative fabric (and social life in general), as well as face environmental challenges. From an institutional point of view, the project is in line with the fundamental strategic principles that define the R&D&I policies of the governments of the Canary Islands, Spain, the European Union and the United Nations.