By Javier Jauregui Ortun
The challenges experienced during the pandemic have made it clear how important it is to have access to open, natural spaces after a day's work. Being able to walk in the mountains, breathe fresh air and recover from the glare of the screen have proven to be very effective remedies against anxiety and stress generated by crisis of the last two years. The search for a new way of working, healthier, more natural and being part of a community, has ignated an interest in rethinking the concept of work space and living.
Through this article we want to bring you closer to this new reality and share with you 9 Rural Coliving projects that inspire us and that we strongly recommend you to get to know. Here comes the future tribe of Rural Colivers!
1. From the Mediterranean comes Sun and Co, a community of nomadic workers, entrepreneurs, remote freelancers and many other digital creators willing to work in a more collaborative way. The Coliving Sun and Co takes place in a renovated 19th century house located in the center of Javea, a coastal town with great history. If you are looking to balance your work with healing saline baths and Mediterranean climate, in the company of like-minded and motivated people, Sun and Co is waiting for you.
2. Several hundred miles (o kilometers?) south of the Peninsula, a few kilometers from the African continent, we find Nine Coliving, a Coworking and Coliving community located in the historic center of La Orotava, Tenerife, where time seems to stand still under the imposing gaze of the Teide volcano. Set in a traditional Canarian house, with the latest technology and Internet power to work efficiently online, Nine Coliving gives Colivers the opportunity to work in a quiet and professional environment, all with an infinite sea in front of home. Are you up for an adventure in the magical Canary Islands?
3. Right next to Nine Coliving, the Pueblos Remotos project offers the Icod Remoto experience. Focused on connected rurality, they invite nomads to connect with the culture volunteering at local projects. Icod Remoto invites us to live for 3 weeks this connected rurality from Icod de los Vinos, a fishing village, protected by the ancient dragon tree. Nothing like a collaboration with a project to better understand the local reality.
4. From the beautiful South Islands, following the eastern coast, we arrive at the Northwestern part of the Peninsula, where we find the rural Coworking and Coliving Sende, located in a village in the interior of the Galician-Portuguese border called Senderiz. Sende has renovated and restored houses that had been forgotten in this village of only 20 inhabitants, bringing new energies and possibilities for the present and future of this place. Being inside the Gerês-Xurés Biosphere Reserve, every glance over our computer is a gift to the eye. It is not by chance that this special place attracts very creative colivers: illustrators, comic book creators, animators, video editors and post-producers, writers... even toy and computer game creators!
5. Also in Galicia, we come across another wonderful home of digital nomads called Anceu Coliving, in the village that bears its name. Anceu Coliving invites us to live the Slowmad, or digital nomad life with calm, where in addition to meeting the goals and deadlines of our jobs, we also stop to observe our inner processes and the natural processes of this natural paradise. If you are looking for an experience of total immersion in Galician Nature while you work, Anceu Coliving is waiting for you.
6. One of the most fascinating initiatives that we have come across, is PandoraHub's gLocal network, which popularizes the concept of Rural Shaker. Anyone who is willing to stop rural depopulation, empowering positive local transformation, has the potential to become a Rural Shaker. PandoraHub connects local action groups, participatory communities, colivers and coworkers, NGOs and artists among others, to create initiatives that involve local communities and revitalize villages. If you want a very active experience where you can network in an original way, PandoraHub is for you.
7. The next project we cross into Portugese territory and going into the Arrábida Natural Park. Just 45km south from Lisbon is the Slow Co House Rural Coliving, where work and stress do not know each other, since nothing beats a hard working day than a swim in one of the many beaches that surround this Rural Coliving: Praia dos Penedos, Praia de Sesimbra, Praia do Ribeiro do Cavalo, or the magical Praia dos Lagosteiros, among many others that you can discover. Slow Co House invites us to live in a community where we can balance work, celebration and well-being in this pleasant territory.
8. Speaking about pleasant territories we cannot forget Asturias, where we find one of the most complete and established Coliving projects. We are talking about Somiedo Living Lab, a space where initiatives that provide solutions to complex challenges of local rural communities are designed, researched and implemented. Mixing the concepts of User Experience and Ambient Intelligence, they seek to address complex problems such as “Empty Spain”. Somiedo Living Lab is much more than a laboratory; it is a place where you can channel your projects in a professional and fun way, thanks to the support of experienced entrepreneurs.
9. After traveling through most of Spain and Portugal, we cannot forget Rooral experiences, where we prioritize wellbeing, and we do it by slowing down in community and focusing on regenerating the key relationships of life: with ourselves, with the community and with nature.
What does it matter to us? To walk slower and more consciously, letting ourselves be guided by the 5 senses in rural territories, where it is possible to be highly efficient at work and at the same time live a healthy, natural and communitarian life.
Rooral is a bridge between the two worlds, fostering empathy, respect in diversity and community cooperation. If you are looking for a new reality, where you can develop personally in local rural communities and where you can give yourself space to listen and work with balance, check us out.
We hope you have enjoyed this journey through all these exciting Rural Colivings spaces and that you get the possibility to live these experiences :-)