Samenvatting

Abandoned villages and ruins are the consequence of depopulation. The region of A Ribeira Sacra (Galicia, Spain) is an example, where since 1981 the region has lost 40% of the population. A sustainable masterplan based on a strategy will bring a future to those areas by using the ruins and reactivate the rural areas. Restoring the ruins will be the visible key elements of a strategy that will settle a community, open business possibilities, allowing people to come/come back and settle and establishing a new relation with the heritage, culture and nature. This intervention could be the prototype for other abandoned villages around the world.