#rural-depopulation

#rural-depopulation

When I began designing my own house in the center of Amami Island, I never imagined it would eventually be disconnected from the power grid. Yet, as environmental degradation accelerates and extreme weather becomes the norm, that choice became inevitable. The decision was catalyzed by a mountain I purchased three years earliera place where I began developing my own micro-infrastructure to live independently, preparing for unforeseen crises while envisioning new forms of resilience in aging, depopulated regions.

Unexpected encounters with bears are being reported almost daily in the lead up to hibernation season as the animals forage for food. The bears have been roaming near schools, train stations, supermarkets and even at a hot springs resort. Some of the encounters have resulted in injuries and even a number of deaths. The growing bear population's encroachment into residential areas is happening in a region with a rapidly aging and declining human population.

The school day is just getting started, and 4-year-old Vasiliki Vourgou, a little girl with dark eyes and hair pulled back in a shiny ponytail with a hot pink scrunchie, is alone. Most days, there are two pupils in this small classroom on the Greek island of Lemnos, with big windows and a view of the school's front courtyard. But one student is sick, so today it's just Vasiliki, going through the morning routine with her teacher.

It's been five years since a sudden shift in the wind brought the North Complex fire roaring up a remote canyon into the pines of Berry Creek, where it incinerated almost all of the more than 1,500 houses in the area and killed 16 people. But to many of the hundreds of people who remain in the mountain hamlet in Butte County, the blaze that burned through their homes and

Low birth rates, aging residents, and evolving or shuttering industries pair with a trend of younger people migrating to metro areas for jobs and more diverse cultural amenities. As of 2022, the U.S. Census bureau estimates there are more than 15 million abandoned houses around the country, which have been left for myriad reasons ranging from foreclosures to structural issues to the death of inhabitants with no one else able or willing to shoulder the responsibility of a home and its furnishings.