The village of Saint-Emilion, in Gironde.

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Antoine Carrion

  • The coronavirus pandemic may have given many city dwellers the desire to settle elsewhere.

  • That's good: rural areas are full of solutions and initiatives in the political, economic and environmental fields, says Nicolas Hazard.

  • In his book

    Le Bonheur est dans le village

    , the entrepreneur shines a light on rural France and its strengths.

    Overview.

There is Tulipe, in the Hautes-Pyrénées.

Jean-François, in the Pas-de-Calais.

Or Salomé, in Allier.

In total, there are around thirty, like the number of solutions put forward by Nicolas Hazard in

Happiness is in the village *

.

A sort of diary in which the soon to be quadra entrepreneur, founder of the Inco group, takes a close interest in the initiatives of these women and men who make “the wealth of our beautiful country”.

Health, agriculture, mobility, democracy, sustainable development… Everything is there.

Proof, according to the author, that the world of tomorrow will not necessarily be urban.

Interview.

In your book, you highlight “thirty stories of women and men” who act, at their level, in the territories of France.

Why this step?

I did a little tour of France in the summer of 2020, after the first confinement, to meet these extraordinary women and men.

The idea was to say to oneself: “During confinement, many people left the big cities, Paris, in particular.

But why did everyone want to go to the countryside?

»I realized that a lot of things are happening there, that the world of tomorrow is already being invented there.

You say that leaving the city allows you to "take back the time to live".

This implies less productivity.

Is this compatible with the current crisis, where companies are tempted to ask more of their employees to raise their heads?

This is the model of yesterday and today.

The principle of the economy, of globalization, is competition, the race for productivity.

But we do not have to be in this productivist scheme.

We can create things differently: wealth, jobs by relocating, by working in short circuits, by regaining sovereignty over certain sectors, such as food.

Another economic dynamic can be created.

In this book, these are small stories which, if they were spread, would invent a new way of producing and working.

You mention the question of "bullshit jobs".

In finance, law, marketing, communication, "absurd professions" plague the daily lives of those who exercise them.

But can all these jobs change?

Are there enough “useful” trades in our villages?

For many, it's a reality, the job is experienced as a “bullshit job”.

The examples I have in mind are people going crazy over what they are doing.

So behind, you have to create your activity, not necessarily waiting for a job elsewhere, even if there is one.

It is the history of the economy to always be able to invent.

Needs, we will always have them.

The development of teleworking is one of the highlights of the coronavirus pandemic.

Is this good news for the rural world?

Absolutely.

For workers, but also and above all for business leaders.

I am, and I was skeptical about telecommuting.

And on the contrary, there is additional productivity because we do not have to endure transport time, we can be more focused on our work.

The model is validated, even if it takes a little face-to-face, because human contact remains key.

And not all business sectors can be done remotely.

Ultimately, you can work from anywhere from the moment you are connected.

This is what is terrible with the territories in which I have been: some are not connected, so they are being cut off from their capacity to accommodate people who would like to come and work from home.

Will the crisis cause an exodus from the city to the countryside?

There are still stereotypes about life in the countryside.

And the economic opportunities, like it or not, are still in the metropolises.

I am not saying that this exodus is a statistical fact, but a deep desire.

We must facilitate it, invest in rural areas with 4G and 5G, health, mobility, local shops.

The conditions are not yet there, but I think 3 or 4 million people could take the plunge if we help them.

Over the pages, one notion comes up frequently: decentralization ...

I no longer believe too much in national policies, which rethink the territory from above.

On the contrary, I believe in local initiatives, which will coagulate and create profound changes in society.

Local authorities and mayors are the key, because we see how elected officials can, from very little, revitalize their territories.

There are recipes for doing it.

Another recurring theme, careers…

On the one hand, there is an aging population.

On the other hand, one of the major challenges is to allow the elderly to be kept at home for as long as possible.

There is work in the territories.

Not in all trades, but there are some.

And the “care” professions are one of the great “boulevards” of the future.

What advice would you give to an urban household wishing to settle in rural areas?

Country life is not all rosy.

You have to build your life project, see the economic opportunities.

What do we want to do?

How? 'Or' What ?

This is not a dreamer's project.

Then you have to do it thoroughly, with passion.

It takes time, like everywhere.

But it pays.

*

Happiness is in the village, 30 solutions from our countryside

, Flammarion editions, 2021, 224 p., 16 euros.

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