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Tourism
Rocacorba, a place where time merges with the earth, where the past, present and future intertwin as a great living fabric, where the mountain, as a silenced witness, keeps the memories of the first human steps, while preparing to accommodate the steps of a regenerated future.
Rocacorba, mountain of legend, life, history and challenge. A place that is revealed as a work of nature, a creation of space and people who have inhabited it, a place that becomes a synthesis between what has been, what is and what can become. Rocacorba, as a symbol of resistance, evolution, rooting and transformation, is placed in a temporal space not only about the past, but also guides us to the future.
The Rocacorba is the mountain that has seen the changes of a territory that has been cradled by the first human waves thousands of years ago, those first settlers who began to settle on their slopes and began to write the history of a territory that has been its own. Its lands are full of stories and legends of the area of Sant Martí de Llémena, which are part of the imagery of a small village, with deep roots in the mountain.
This account of place is based on human relationships, which were established and woven from a naturally rich and welcoming territory. The first inhabitants of Rocacorba built their walls, their homes and their ways of life taking advantage of everything that the mountain provided them: the waters of natural sources, the wood of the forests and the biodiversity that surrounded them. The mountain was the source of life and subsistence for those who inhabited it until today, when the imprint can still be seen.
The remains of human history in the Rocacorba are as remains of a distant but present past: stone walls that have resisted the passage of centuries and lands that have been cultivated generation after generation. The fascis, inheritance of the collective effort, are testimony of a community life that was founded in collaboration, mutual aid and coexistence with the land. The mountain was a place of delivery to the other, with parties, agricultural work, the activities of each day.
The myths and legends surrounding the Rocacorba explain the magic of the mountain, its special energy. Here, the landscape is mixed with the popular imagination, such as the legend of the Demon, an account that explains how this mountain was marked by a conflict between divine and human forces. It is said that the Demon wanted to divert the river, and with his power forged the geography of this territory. The mountain is a place of opposing oppositions and forces that have left their trail over the centuries.
As the Rocacorba has passed from generation to generation, it has been seen as the past has left way to the present. The lands have witnessed profound changes. One of these changes was deindustrialization, a change that affected the lives of the inhabitants. With the advent of new technologies and globalization, the site began to transform, and many of the traditional activities were relegated to memory. The mountain was no longer just the source of life but also became a space for the search for new ways to live there.
But, as the Rocacorba has done for centuries, the present is also marked by change. The village inhabiting the mountain has undergone an economic, social and environmental transformation, and the mountain has followed its trajectory, indifferent to human difficulties, but offering the inhabitants new opportunities to reinvent themselves. Today, Sant Martí de Llémena and the villages around the mountain of Rocacorba seek the balance between the preservation of its history and the need to regenerate against new global challenges.
The threat of gentrification and the loss of their rural identity have prompted the inhabitants to think about the future of the mountain and its community. It is time to adapt, to renew without losing the roots. The ecological and social challenges facing the mountain and surrounding land, such as climate change, housing crisis, biodiversity loss and traditions conservation, are making Rocacorba a space in constant transformation.
The Importance of Working with a Systemic Approach
Working with a systemic approach, as proposed by the Regenesis Group, is essential to create solutions that respect natural and social dynamics. If we only consider one aspect of the territory, such as its geology or economy, we could reach erroneous or ineffective conclusions that negatively affect other parts of the system. For example, an economic development plan that ignores the ecological or cultural conditions of a territory can generate irreparable damage to the local ecosystem or cause the loss of cultural identity for communities. Thus, bioregionalization seeks a deep understanding of the territory through all its layers, to ensure that solutions are truly regenerative.
This integration of the different layers allows working in tune with the dynamics of the territory and ensuring that the proposed solutions are realistic and appropriate for the place in question. When a regenerative strategy is designed from this approach, a model of intergenerational and interconnected collaboration is promoted, where all members of the community work together to address challenges systemically. Thus, an active recovery process of the capabilities of the site is created, and its evolution becomes a constant and dynamic process.
Results of Bioregionalization
The results of applying bioregionalization are diverse, but all are focused on the regeneration of the site as a living and connected system. One of the first benefits is the increased resilience of the territory, since, by identifying and integrating ecological, social and economic patterns, communities are more able to adapt to global changes and challenges, such as climate change, economic crises, and biodiversity loss. In addition, more efficient and adaptive strategies can be created for the management of natural resources, which not only help solve immediate problems, but also ensure the regeneration of the long-term system.
Another result of bioregionalization is the improvement of community relations. When people work together to understand their territory and create regenerative solutions, the sense of belonging and social cohesion is encouraged. This collaborative work for the regeneration of the site creates a solid basis for the development of fairer, equitable and solidarity practices within the community.
Finally, bioregionalization allows to increase the self-management capacity of communities, as understanding the patterns that kingdom their territory through generating their own Relate of the Site, communities can design and apply solutions that allow them to manage their resources more autonomously, without relying so much on external influences. Thus, greater autonomy and empowerment is obtained by the community in its own evolution.
Working towards territorial resilience
By Relating the Site, we identify its layers and observe how these interact with each other, revealing evolutionary patterns that have led to the development of communities and ecosystems. This understanding is fundamental to address current challenges, as well as to imagine possible futures that are desirable and resilient.
Through a transdisciplinary approach, bioregionalization allows us to integrate multiple knowledge to generate local solutions, but also deeply aligned with global needs. Instead of working in isolation, it is proposed to create collaborative networks between communities, institutions, companies and other local entities. These interactions allow us not only to better understand social and ecological dynamics, but also to take advantage of the latent potential of the territory to face global challenges more efficiently and with long-term responses.
Working with the Inherent Potential of the Site
One of the central ideas in bioregionalization is the creation of solutions based on the inherent potential of the site. When we understand the Relate of the Site, we recognize what patterns make up the life of the territory, and this allows us to act consistently with local dynamics. Communities and territories are not static entities, but live and evolutionary systems. The Relate of the Site offers us the tools to identify possible futures based on these patterns and to generate adaptive strategies that prepare the territory for future changes, from global crises to internal transformations that may arise.
This latent potential hidden in the site is revealed when we look beyond external solutions and look for natural and social patterns that have allowed the survival and evolution of communities. The ability of a community to regenerate is closely related to the deep knowledge of the site, as this account allows us to identify the conditions, alliances and natural and social resources that have been built over time and have allowed balance within the ecosystem.
Crisis as Moments of Opportunity
A fundamental aspect of bioregionalization is the ability to see crises as moments for evolution. Crises should not only be seen as moments of fragility, but as stress points that, when understood correctly, can become catalysts for change. This is done through local collective intelligence, which is able to observe crises from multiple perspectives and generate deeper and holistic solutions. Bioregionalization teaches us to identify these stress points, whether economic, social or ecological, and to take advantage of them to transform them into regeneration opportunities.
Practices observed in contemporary bioregionalism show that, when performed locally with a deep understanding of territorial dynamics, global challenges such as climate change, loss of biodiversity or economic crises can be addressed in an adaptive and integrated way, opening the door to innovative and deeply rooted solutions on the site.
Adaptive and collaborative solutions design
Local co-creation processes are essential in this approach. Instead of imposing outside solutions, it works from the specific needs of the territory to create transversal and integrative strategies. Creating land labs, active collaboration spaces between various agents, creativity and innovation in the design of regenerative solutions is encouraged. This work not only allows changes to be adapted, but also takes advantage of social, economic and natural resources to build regenerative and adaptive solutions.
These co-creation spaces not only generate solutions for the immediate crisis, but also help communities visualize possible futures and prepare them so that solutions are enduring. This dynamic process of design and adaptation creates territories that are able to evolve over time and have the ability to regenerate through the natural and social dynamics that define them.
Conclusion
Rocacorba is a territory where ecosystems, legends and people intertwin to create a continuous regeneration space, where each care and transformation action of the past feeds a shared future between nature, community and visitors.
Rocacorba is a territory where mountain and nature speak of a past rich in human and environmental relationships that have shaped the landscape over time. But it is not only a place of memory, but also of regeneration. The mountain, with its forests, its sources and its surrounding biodiversity, is a reflection of a territory that breathes and nourishes the interaction between nature and people. Its strength, however, is not in its past, but in its potential to transform and regenerate into the present and future.
In this territory, regenerative tourism arises as a response to the changing conditions of the rural world. Beyond a simple tourist visit, it seeks to create a deep connection with the site. Visitors have the opportunity to contribute to the care and restoration of the landscape, to actively involve the recovery of traditional agricultural practices and to revitalize the spirit of community. This tourism not only nourishes the territory physically, but also restables the emotional link between people and the land, between those who live and those who visit.
The regeneration that is promoted is based on a set of actions and values that seek to restore harmony between humans and nature. Rocacorba presents itself as a resilience model, a place where the care of the territory is not only a point action, but a continuous process that integrates the community and visitors into a lively and dynamic system. With every step we do to rehabilitate their paths, reforest their forests, recover their sources and preserve their ecosystems, Rocacorba becomes a source of regeneration and resilience that benefits not only the territory, but also the people involved. Thus, a future is built where the land, community and local economy reinforce each other, creating a vircious circle that guarantees continuity. Rocacorba, with all its potential, teaches us that regeneration is a joint task, a shared effort between the people, nature and those who approach it with respect.
Crisis are not seen as fragilities, but as opportunities for transformation. The account of the site identifies points of tension and balance that allow to create deep and adaptive solutions. As proposed by the Regenesis Group, these solutions are proactive, aimed at regenerating the territory actively.
In addition, this process encourages cultural change in communities, creating a sense of belonging and shared responsibility. Communities become active agents of regeneration, preparing to face future changes with long-term strategies.
This application of bioregionalization increases territorial resilience, allowing the territory to regenerate through its own dynamics. The more we understand the interrelationships of the site, the more capacity we have to face global and local challenges, creating long-term solutions and helping communities to thrive.
In short, bioregionalization is a process of identifying active patterns and regeneration, which allows us to take advantage of the inherent potential of sites. This not only helps to face immediate challenges, but also opens the way to a more adaptive and resilient future. Crisis become opportunities for evolution and prosperity.