Massive investment issuing into housing projects along the Costa del Sol to fit all pockets, from VPOs (government protected price housing) to multi-million euro luxury villa projects filling up the valley below Benahavís and Marbella. Not even the tranquil, windswept natural beauty of Tarifa is exempt from the expansion.
All the while, and in spite of the boom in digital nomads, stunningly beautiful Pueblos Blancos in the interior continue to depopulate. In the province of Malaga, there are 58 villages with less than 3,000 inhabitants, and the population has shrunk in 22 of them in the last 12 months. The challenge is to find young men and women to repopulate them.
The challenge of making country living attractive
Luring young digital nomads is the grand project of Toñi Ledesma of the Provincial Government of Malaga. She is currently seeking support to make country living more attractive, offering better transport links, better entertainment and leisure opportunities, a better work-life balance, and more job opportunities away from the big cities.
Slowing down the exodus is not an easy goal, and according to Ledesma, you have to go drop by drop. Since 2019, the Diputación de Málaga has a specific department dedicated to the fight against depopulation that has been supported by initiatives such as the national campaign ‘Vente a vivir a un pueblo’ (Come live in a village), which is investing in promoting transport connections, lower-priced homes, sports facilities, and a host of embellishments to make country living fashionable again.
One experimental programme, ‘Metapueblos’, funded by the government, is to encourage young entrepreneurs to take up residence in a small village to monitor their progress and see why they either remain or escape back to the big city. So far, only about 50% have decided to stick with country living, and it is not making much of a significant impact on the populations of villages in the Malaga province.
Herein lies the question: What would make you give up your metropolitan lifestyle for the quiet life in a Pueblo Blanco?
