Nine families decide to abandon the life of the city to move to a small town like Zorokiain. In total there are eighteen adults and ten boys and girls, most of them from the area of Pamplona.
Three years ago they bought the church of the locality from the bishopric of Pamplona/Iruña. “We wanted a fixed place for activities such as yoga, exhibitions, meals or concerts, and the church seemed to us to be an ideal place,” said one of the neighbors.
In Auzolan they meet every Sunday to fix the church and the corners of the town, but they have not yet begun building the houses. First, they must urbanize the village, install electricity or perform paving works, among others.
The management of the urbanization project has been taken over by the City of Unitibar and the Government of Navarra will take over part of the works. The project is already awarded and is expected to be completed by this year.
One of the new inhabitants of Zorokiain has stated that “here we want to implement with nature the values such as the self-management we have learned in the city”. In the opinion of another citizen, “I consider myself from Pamplona and the street, but at this moment in my life I need this environment”.
Currently there are 100 vacant localities in Navarre and many others have less than 250 inhabitants. Eight abandoned villages have been occupied in the last five years, but in the case of Zorokiain the neighbours have been bought. In the Valley they are happy because the ruler is going up and the people are going to take their lives.