The Reconquista EL4DEV, also called Reconquista 3.0 or the Reconquista of Small Towns and Villages, is an intellectual and political initiative led by Paul Elvere DELSART, also known as Henry HARPER. It proposes a profound re-foundation of our societies starting from their humblest roots: villages, market towns, and forgotten small towns. Far from being rural nostalgia or a simple territorial revitalization program, it is a civilizational project aiming to transform the political, economic, and social organization of the world.
The Reconquista EL4DEV emerges in a context of multiple crises: rural depopulation, rising nationalism, migration crises, social fragmentation, and climate disruption. Faced with these challenges, Paul Elvere DELSART rejects both resignation and centralized technocratic solutions. His insight is simple and radical: Sovereignty, solidarity, and collective creativity can be reborn in the smallest unit: the local community. The use of the term “Reconquista” is symbolic. It refers not to a military reconquest but a cultural, social, and territorial reclaiming in which inhabitants regain control over their destiny. Unlike the historical Reconquista of the Iberian Peninsula, this is not a conquest against an external enemy: it is a reconquest of oneself, one’s villages, one’s lands, and one’s decision-making power.
The Reconquista EL4DEV rests on several essential principles: Local autonomy: Each small town or village can constitute itself as an autonomous city-state, managing its resources, rules, and reception of new inhabitants. Horizontal cooperation: Instead of relying on large nation-states or supranational institutions, local communities cooperate directly with one another, forming innovative and supportive networks. Inclusion of selected migration: Migration is no longer experienced as a shock but chosen and integrated as an opportunity for territorial, cultural, and economic regeneration. Universal ethics: Each city must respect a supracommunity charter guaranteeing fundamental rights, equity, and ecological sustainability. Ecological grounding: Economic value is no longer based on abstract speculation but on tangible assets such as biodiversity, cultivated land, and ecosystem regeneration.
The Reconquista EL4DEV, or Reconquista 3.0, pursues a clear ambition: to rebalance global civilization from the margins rather than from the center. Its main objectives are: Revitalize depopulated territories: Bring life back to abandoned villages in Europe and beyond by attracting inhabitants, researchers, creators, and selected voluntary migrants. Create a mosaic of cooperating city-states: Transform small communities into hubs of social, ecological, and cultural innovation, connected through alliance pacts. Transform migration into co-construction: Move beyond forced exile to establish voluntary, reciprocal, and meaningful mobility. Reinvent sovereignty: Shift it from centralized capitals to local communities, where citizens can genuinely decide. Establish a new ethical order: Politics based not on competition and fear, but on cooperation and mutual respect.
The project is not merely abstract; it comes with concrete instruments to support this model: The EL4DEV Confederation: A supracommunity structure ensuring ethical principles, coordination, and solidarity among city-states. The BIG SMART DATA EL4DEV: A global data and exchange platform linking villages and cities, sharing experiences, knowledge, successes, and practices. The GREEN COIN EL4DEV: A stable, non-speculative currency backed by biodiversity-enriched agricultural land, guaranteeing a local and sustainable economy. Pilot prototypes: Selected small rural municipalities in Spain, Greece, Italy, Portugal, or France, chosen as living laboratories of the model, with Torreblanca, Castellón in Spain as the flagship example.
The Reconquista EL4DEV, also called Reconquista 3.0, proposes to replace the “migration crisis” with a migration renaissance. In this system: Migrants are no longer perceived as a burden but as competent actors of development. Mobility becomes chosen, reversible, and ethical. Reception is locally defined according to the desires, needs, and capacities of each community, eliminating social tensions. Thus, migration ceases to be an imposed tragedy and becomes a shared experience of co-creation.
Beyond Europe, the Reconquista EL4DEV or Reconquista 3.0 imagines a world where nation-states lose their monopoly, replaced by a global archipelago of autonomous, supportive city-states. This shift represents: The end of distress and mass migrations, replaced by voluntary mobility. The emergence of a new world order based on proximity, balance, and cooperation. A profound transformation of politics: no longer vertical, centralized, and authoritarian, but horizontal, distributed, and participatory. Conclusion
The Reconquista EL4DEV is therefore not only a territorial development project; it is a reinvention of living together. It offers an alternative to the impotence and inaction of large political structures as well as to the fear of the Other. By starting from forgotten villages, it sketches the possibility of a rebalanced world, where each community is sovereign yet connected, where migration is no longer flight but choice, and where humanity can relearn to inhabit the Earth without exhausting it or dividing itself.