Remote towns have been stagnate or depopulating for decades. The problems for residents may be lack of services, high taxes, high energy costs, lack of opportunity, access to shipping, etc.
From the government's perspective. There are many factors for not building and improving remote towns. Some are:
a) climate change (vehicles, heating, trucking and more)
b) lack of infrastructure (gas, roads, railroads, healthcare)
c) lack of budget (most of Federal revenues go to redistribution payments)
The biggest issue I've noticed in Canada is a lack of will. Ibn Khaldun noticed later in a nation, citizens view the function of government as a means to provide leisure. Western Civilization is obviously going through a time of major upheaval. The 1950s - 1990s were an aberration, I don't think we're going to see those standards of living in the future. We can't expect large scale shipping routes to remote locations, so people can live in detached housing. Future housing will likely be large scale, high density, low sqft apartments designed for maximum efficiency of energy and infrastructure.
My thoughts are the nation technically doesn't need many people living in rural areas. The collective pursuits will win over the individual in the future.