Can Riu,
Centelles
A place shaped by water, memory and community in the comarca of Osona.
~50 km from Barcelona
Flexible dates
Free co-living
community builders
Apply now
Where you
would arrive
Centelles is a small town in the comarca of Osona, in Catalonia (northeast Spain), with a population of around 7,500 inhabitants. Located about 50 km from Barcelona, it sits at the gateway between the metropolitan region and the inland rural territories.
This intermediate position makes Centelles both accessible and distinctly rooted in a rural landscape — attracting a mix of long-term residents, commuting populations and new inhabitants seeking alternatives to urban living.
The town sits in the upper Congost valley, a territory shaped by water, geology and time. The river Congost and a network of streams and springs have historically defined how people live, organise and relate to the land. The surrounding landscape — marked by hills such as Puigsagordi and Roc Gros — is not only a physical environment, but part of a shared cultural imagination and identity.
Throughout its history, Centelles has been a place of connection: between territories, cultures and ways of life. Local celebrations such as the Festa del Pi and the Cau de Bruixes are living expressions of the relationship between community, nature and collective memory.
Can Riu
The residencies will take place in Can Riu, a site with a strong symbolic and social history within Centelles. Emerging in the 1970s and 80s as a space for alternative ways of living, Can Riu became a place of community experimentation, critical thinking and peaceful resistance, rooted in collective life and shared values.
Today, it retains this spirit as a setting that invites reflection, coexistence and engagement with the territory. Hosting the residencies here connects participants not only to a physical space, but to an ongoing story of community, autonomy and transformation.
Today, Centelles stands at a turning point. Its proximity to the metropolitan area brings both pressures and opportunities. The challenge is to remain a place with its own character — not becoming a dormitory town — while opening new pathways for community life, culture and local development.
How you can
contribute
Arriving in Centelles means entering a living system, not an empty space. Contribution here is not about imposing external solutions, but about understanding the place, its rhythms and its ongoing processes.
The invitation is to engage with the community as a learner and contributor, supporting existing dynamics while opening new possibilities together.
- Make visible what already exists — through storytelling, communication and digital tools that strengthen the identity and visibility of the place.
- Connect people and initiatives — building bridges between local actors and wider networks across the RARE project.
- Co-create small-scale experiences or prototypes — that reinforce community life, cultural practices and local opportunities, without displacing them.
- Participate in local celebrations — Festa del Pi, Cau de Bruixes and other community events that define the identity of Centelles.
Preferred
profiles
We are looking for remote workers who are genuinely curious about rural community life, and who can contribute meaningfully to local initiatives during their stay.
We especially welcome people with skills in communication, storytelling, web, social media, video production or design — as these can directly support the goals of the RARE project.
Other profiles are also welcome, provided they bring a willingness to engage, contribute and connect during their residency. Self-organisation, reliability and an openness to the unexpected are more important than any specific skill set.
