From the rural communes to the neo-rural movement: rooting sustainable projects in rural areas of Spain

In a context of multidimensional crisis (ecological, social, economic, as well as of the principles that articulate the modern world), the back-to-the-land movements take on special relevance as an alternative for a more sustainable life. In this sense, the neo-rural movement is defined as the voluntary migration of people to the countryside with the aim of starting a life project. Its conceptualization includes intentional projects, such as ecovillages, but also agroecological initiatives and rural revitalization projects. Although this movement has expanded considerably in recent decades, its immediate historical antecedents are rooted in the rural communes of the last century. Rural communes emerged in Spain between the 1970s and 1980s as part of a broad transnational community movement. In them, young people of urban origin tried to implement a way of life more in harmony with nature as a solution to the environmental crisis.  This paper asks about the relationship between those community initiatives and the current neo-rural phenomenon in Spain. For this purpose, the motivations present in both cases are compared, with the aim of asking about the continuity and existing differences of both experiences. In this way, the aim is to shed new light on the possibilities that the study of the new peasantry could open up by combining the historical and ecological methods to face the climatic challenge of our time.