Case Study: Eymet – Not a new Market Town, but reviving an old one

Small villages and towns in France are suffering population depletion as the young leave, and the remainers age.

This site is a case study of Eymet, France, a typical ancient commune except for one quality: it welcomes people who speak English but are not conversant in French.

That quality holds the key to the economic revival and stability of the commune. But only if the people and their local government agree and actively put in place measures to capitalise on this quality.

When we travel for an extended period, visiting wonderful places, and then return home, we see things we had overlooked.

Eymet enjoys a good reputation, but on arriving in town a first-time visitor sees the vacant buildings, graffiti, weedy streets, and neglected river that tell a different story.

As the world becomes increasingly homogenised, historic towns and villages become ever more valuable. These places were not manufactured. They were built by hand over generations and are treasures to be protected and restored.

Most people do not love their home places because they are not made to be loved.

The great towns and villages of the world did not become beautiful by accident. They became beautiful because generation after generation cared enough to improve them.

But they are not static museums either. As the global economy changes, especially as it impacts the next generations of local people, the commune must adapt and adopt protective measures to ensure its people continue to thrive and love where they live.

Tourism brings in outside money necessary to enable a local economy to thrive. But it comes with costs as the locals become an object of interest – actors there for the entertainment of the visitors. Successful tourism in places like Venice eventually destroy the character of attraction.

There is another class of visitor who achieves the same economic outcome (they spend money locally), but give as much as they take. They are not tourists but seasonal residents. Some may go through the hoops of a resident visa, but others may choose to reside during the shoulder seasons of Spring and Autumn.

Part of this case study suggests this as a way to address the challenges Eymet will face in the coming years.

AI will be wiping out whole classes of jobs including professions such as accounting. law and medical, as well as factory labour and transport services.

The 2026 Gulf War has exposed the vulnerability of relying on a global economy and its supply chains.

The answer to this can be found in history when French towns were based on local economies in which wealth was created locally and circulated where everyone was were gainfully employed.

Today, for Eymet, the economic answer to the global economic threats can be to attract part-time affluent, English-speaking home buyers under a specific program that protects the local people from gentrification.

Walk toward the historic centre of Eymet and the low-cost decisions of the Municipal Council send the wrong message. The asphalt paving may cost less, but is destroys the visual amenity. Visit towns that use limestone or marble and note the difference. When traditional stone paving is replaced by asphalt surfacing, the historic character of the town centre is diminished.

While conventional herbicides such as glyphosate has been banned since 2017, the streetscape still should be gardened, not look weedy. Note where the weeds grow. In some cases digging them out and grouting controls it. In others, dig out the weeds and plant hardy, but attractive flowers that works with Nature.

And then we have the river.

The river should be one of Eymet’s greatest assets. Instead, portions appear visibly degraded, with stagnant water and persistent odours that suggest water quality issues rather than the natural condition of a healthy river.

It should be reserved for cafes, feeding the birds and watching children play, not a recently-paved carpark.

A clean and attractive river would enhance the town’s appearance, improve environmental outcomes, increase recreational opportunities, and strengthen Eymet’s appeal as a destination for both residents and visitors.

Not speaking the language is a major inhibitor for longer-term visitors. Some take the courses, but just lack the aptitude. Technology is making it easier, but knowing their is a town where one is not only understood, but not resented for lack of fluency, is a major attraction.

Consider at the entrance to the commune a set of flag poles with every English-speaking nation flying. And not just the national flags; include England, Scotland and the Maryland flags.

But then work with the locals to encourage the visitors to learn French.

The developed world is experiencing increasing polarisation as society divides between the haves and the have-nots. Young people cannot afford to buy homes, while wealthy newcomers bid up housing prices and then occupy their properties only during the high season. Over time, this weakens the local economy by reducing the year-round customer base that local businesses need to survive.

The answer is to welcome pied-à-terre investors under a specific set of rules and then make it easy for them to buy and renovate older properties.

Many older homes were originally mixed-use. Revive this tradition. The pied-à-terre is renovated and reserved for the owner, while an additional apartment within the same building is renovated for a local person or family who will live there full time.

The local occupants pay the taxes, utilities, and day-to-day operating costs. Most importantly, they do not pay rent. Instead, they are encouraged to set aside an amount equivalent to market rent into a dedicated savings account so that they can eventually purchase a home of their own.

The owner may also invite the local occupants to manage short-term accommodation when the pied-à-terre is vacant. In return, the occupants receive a commission for hosting guests and maintaining the property.

With such a plan, formalised and marketed by the Commune, the historic buildings are restored and maintained. Investors gain a secure and well-kept pied-à-terre and they have a stronger stake in the community than tourists just passing though.

Local residents obtain housing and a realistic path to home ownership. The town benefits from a larger year-round population that supports local businesses, schools, and community life.

Why ask the taxpayer to fund improvements when outsides would do so happily and voluntarily?

The historic road has been paved over with asphalt. Rip it up and repave it with traditional stone, or as found in some beautiful towns like Verona, marble.

Set a fixed price and then invite the pied-à-terre investors to pay for it. Some will want a plaque with their name on it, to show they care. Others may want it to be a memorial for a loved one who has died.

This is not a new idea. Go into any historic church and learn who paid for the bell, the stained-glass windows and the other amenities.

People with discretionary income, wanting to feel welcome, will open their wallets. Invite them to do so.

The author of this site is a New Zealand author who has published several editions of a book on how to create truly sustainable communities. He is visiting Eymet to photograph timeless patterns for the fourth edition, which requires a new cover photograph.

While the historic villages and market towns of Europe vividly demonstrate this “pattern language”, it is also clear that many are suffering from what might be called predatory capitalism. Market capitalism works, but when businesses become larger than the economies of many nations, and their sole measure of success is the amount of money they extract, regardless of the local consequences, communities need to recognise that the battleground is no longer the nineteenth and twentieth century debate between left and right; it is between globalism and localism. Indeed, it is a failure to understand how the commonwealth of a local town is created and maintained.

The principle is simple. If a community maintains a positive balance of trade, meaning that the money flowing into the community matches or exceeds the money flowing out, and if that prosperity is broadly distributed throughout the community to ensure can afford quality of life, it will thrive. The key to making this happen is to ensure the full range of housing costs are affordable to all.

This is not a new idea. For more than a thousand years such places were known as market towns, which explains the title of the latest edition of the book: How to Build a MarketTown. But the book is being written for the new world, specifically New Zealand and Australia. In the case of a town already built, such as Eymet, the buildings are already there, what is needed is a focus on how to build a local market economy that thrives under changing conditions.