22 people took part in an online workshop to follow up on proposals developed during the co-creation laboratories held in Spain and Portugal and explore how to test them in rural communities.
On 19 October 2026, the European project ROOTRURAL (Roots and Horizons) held a new online working session focused on taking forward some of the ideas generated during the co-creation laboratories organised in Spain and Portugal over recent months.
The session, attended by 22 participants, provided an opportunity to revisit the proposals developed during previous meetings and explore, collectively, how to turn them into small-scale experiments to assess their feasibility before investing further time and resources.
With the guidance of experienced professionals, participants worked on different prototypes addressing some of the main challenges facing rural areas: tourism development, culture as a tool for revitalising villages, the protection of public services, the transmission of cultural heritage between generations, and opportunities for young people. The session followed a participatory approach, with everyone working together on each proposal and enriching the ideas through contributions from people with different experiences and perspectives.
As a result of the workshop, several initiatives will continue moving towards small-scale experimentation. These include organising a short artistic residency in a village, running intergenerational workshops to preserve and pass on intangible cultural heritage, and drafting a manifesto in defence of healthcare services in rural areas.
Other proposals were reformulated to better respond to the needs identified, while some were set aside after recognising that similar initiatives were already underway or that their approach needed to be reconsidered.
This review process is also an important part of the learning experience: the aim is not simply to generate new ideas, but to understand which ones could work, what resources they require, and how they could genuinely contribute to improving life in rural communities.
Through this session, ROOTRURAL continues to take steps towards turning citizen participation and collaborative work into concrete proposals, building on the knowledge and experience of the people who live and work in rural areas.
ROOTRURAL (Roots and Horizons) is a European cooperation project developed by Asociación Tierras Sorianas del Cid (Spain) and Rural Move (Portugal). It aims to promote new opportunities for entrepreneurship, stronger connections to rural communities, and rural development through training, participation, and cooperation between territories.
Roots and Horizons: Cultivating a Culture of Opportunities in the Territory
Funded by: European Union through the Erasmus+ (2025-1-ES01-KA210-ADU-000353379),in collaboration with the Spanish National Agency SEPIE.
The “ROOT RURAL” project is co-funded by the European Union. The views and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors, Asociación Tierras Sorianas del Cid and Rural Move, and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the Spanish Service for the Internationalization of Education (SEPIE). Neither the European Union nor the SEPIE National Agency can be held responsible for them.
