Digital Nomads and the Policies of Mobility: Labour, Autonomy, and Spatial Inequalities

Öz

This article examines digital nomadism as a hybrid phenomenon at the intersection of transnational mobility, digital labour, and lifestyle migration. A scoping review identifies four principal factors related to the concept of the digital nomad: definitional ambiguity, technology mediation, international mobility, and lifestyle orientation. The article portrays digital nomads as representative of late capitalist mobility, emphasising their role in global structures of privilege and vulnerability. The study suggests increased empirical and context-sensitive research, specifically regarding host communities, urban effects, and the experiences of non-Western nomads influenced by visa and market exclusions. It also emphasises the need to address gendered, racialised, and affective aspects of digital nomadic life. Ultimately, it evaluates emerging digital nomad visa regulations for their selective inclusivity, indicating a necessity for rigorous examination of new mobility governance frameworks.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Digital Nomad
• Mobility
• Lifestyle Mobility
• Location-Independent Work
• Remote Work
• Digital Labour

Dijital Göçebeler ve Hareketlilik Politikaları: Emek, Özerklik ve Mekânsal Eşitsizlikler

Öz

Bu makale, dijital göçebeliği (digital nomadism) ulusötesi hareketlilik, dijital emek ve yaşam tarzı göçünün kesiştiği noktada melez bir olgu olarak incelemektedir. Yapılan kapsam incelemesi, dijital göçebe kavramına ilişkin olarak dört ana boyut ortaya koymuştur: tanımsal belirsizlik, teknoloji aracılığı, uluslararası hareketlilik ve yaşam tarzı yönelimi. Makale, dijital göçebelerin küresel ayrıcalık ve kırılganlık yapıları içindeki rollerine vurgu yaparak, onları geç kapitalist hareketliliğin temsilcisi olarak tasvir etmektedir. Makale özellikle ev sahibi topluluklar, kentsel etkiler, vize ve piyasa dışlamalarından etkilenen Batılı olmayan göçebelerin deneyimleri ile ilgili olarak daha fazla ampirik ve bağlama duyarlı araştırma yapılmasını önermektedir. Ayrıca, dijital göçebe yaşamının cinsiyete dayalı, ırksal ve duygusal yönlerinin ele alınması gerekliliğini vurgulamaktadır. Sonuç olarak, yeni mobilite yönetişim çerçevelerinin titizlikle incelenmesinin gerekliliğini belirterek, ortaya çıkan dijital göçebe vize düzenlemelerini seçici kapsayıcılıkları açısından değerlendirmektedir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Dijital Göçebe
• Hareketlilik
• Yaşam Tarzı Hareketliliği
• Konumdan Bağımsız Çalışma
• Uzaktan Çalışma
• Dijital Emek

Kaynakça

1. Amit, V. (2007). Structures and Dispositions of Travel and Movement. In V. Amit (Ed.), Going First Class?: New Approaches to Privileged Travel and Movement (pp. 1–14). Berghahn Books.
2. Andrejuk, K. (2022). Pandemic Transformations in Migrant Spaces: Migrant Entrepreneurship Between Super- digitalization and the New Precarity. Population, Space and Place, 28(6). https://doi.org/10.1002/psp.2564.
3. Arksey, H., & O’Malley, L. (2005). Scoping Studies: Towards a Methodological Framework. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 8(1), p. 19–32. https://doi.org/10.1080/1364557032000119616
4. Aroles, J., Bonneau, C., & Bhankaraully, S. (2023). Conceptualising ‘Meta-Work’ in the Context of Continuous, Global Mobility: The Case of Digital Nomadism. Work, Employment and Society, 37(5), p. 1261–1278. https://doi.org/10.1177/09500170211069797.
5. Arslan, E. (2024). From Tourists to Nomads: Unveiling the Transformative Potential of Digital Nomads in Travel and Tourism. Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes, 16(3), p. 269–281. https://doi.org/10.1108/WHATT-03- 2024-0046.
6. Baranova, V., & Podolsky, V. (2023). Life in Motion: Mobility and Identity Among Russian Migrants in the South Caucasus. Laboratorium: Russian Review of Social Research, 15(3), p. 16–32. https://doi.org/10.25285/2078-1938-2023-15-3-16-32.
7. Bauwens, M. (2012). Thesis on Digital Labor in an Emerging P2P Economy. In T. Scholz (Ed.), Digital Labor: The Internet as Playground and Factory. Routledge.
8. Bednorz, J. (2024). Working from Anywhere? Work from Here! Approaches to Attract Digital Nomads. Annals of Tourism Research, 105, 103715. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2023.103715.

9. Benson, M., & Osbaldiston, N. (2014). New Horizons in Lifestyle Migration Research: Theorising Movement, Settlement and the Search for a Better Way of Life. In Benson, M., Osbaldiston, N. (Eds), Understanding Lifestyle Migration. Migration, Diasporas and Citizenship Series (pp. 1–23). Palgrave Macmillan UK. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137328670_1
10. Castells, M. (2005). The Network Society: From Knowledge to Policy. In M. Castells and G. Cardoso (Eds), The Network Society from Knowledge to Policy (pp. 3–21). Johns Hopkins Center for Transatlantic Relations.
11. Castles, S., De Haas, H., & Miller, M. J. (2014). The Age Of Migration International Population Movements In The Modern World (Fifth Edition). The Palgrave McMillan. http://archive.org/details/stephen-castles-hein-de- haas-mark-j.-miller-the-age-of-migration-lnternational-p
12. Cohen, S. A., Duncan, T., & Thulemark, M. (2015). Lifestyle Mobilities: The Crossroads of Travel, Leisure and Migration. Mobilities, 10(1), p. 155–172. https://doi.org/10.1080/17450101.2013.826481
13. Cook, D. (2023). What is a Digital Nomad? Definition and Taxonomy in the Era of Mainstream Remote Work. World Leisure Journal, 65(2), p. 256–275. https://doi.org/10.1080/16078055.2023.2190608.
14. De Loryn, B. (2022). Not Necessarily a Place: How Mobile Transnational Online Workers (Digital Nomads) Construct and Experience ‘Home’. Global Networks, 22(1), p. 103–118. https://doi.org/10.1111/glob.12333
15. Duffy, A., & Kang, H. Y. P. (2019). Follow Me, I’m Famous: Travel Bloggers’ Self-Mediated Performances of Everyday Exoticism. Media, Culture & Society, 42(2), p. 172–190. https://doi.org/10.1177/0163443719853503
16. Ehn, K., Jorge, A., & Marques-Pita, M. (2022). Digital Nomads and the Covid-19 Pandemic: Narratives About Relocation in a Time of Lockdowns and Reduced Mobility. Social Media and Society, 8(1). https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051221084958.
17. Faist, T. (2000). The Volume and Dynamics of International Migration and Transnational Social Spaces. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198293910.001.0001
18. Faist, T. (2013). The Mobility Turn: A New Paradigm for the Social Sciences? Ethnic and Racial Studies, 36(11), p. 1637–1646. https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2013.812229
19. Glick Schiller, N., Basch, L., & Blanc-Szanton, C. (1992). Towards a Definition of Transnationalism.: Introductory Remarks and Research Questions. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 645(1 Towards a Tra), p. ix– xiv. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-6632.1992.tb33482.x
20. Glick Schiller, N., & Salazar, N. B. (2013). Regimes of Mobility Across the Globe. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 39(2), p. 183–200. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2013.723253
21. Green, P. (2020). Disruptions of Self, Place and Mobility: Digital Nomads in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Mobilities, 15(3), p. 431–445. https://doi.org/10.1080/17450101.2020.1723253.
22. Gretzel, U., & Hardy, A. (2019). #VanLife: Materiality, Makeovers and Mobility Amongst Digital Nomads. E- Review of Tourism Research, 16(2–3), p. 1–9.
23. Håkansson, P. G., & Bejaković, P. (2023). Can Digital Nomads Solve the Problem of Tourist Economy? The Case of Croatian Islands. Eastern Journal of European Studies, 14(Special Issue), p.116–134. https://doi.org/10.47743/ejes-2023-SI07.
24. Hannonen, O. (2020). In Search of a Digital Nomad: Defining the Phenomenon. Information Technology and Tourism, 22(3), p. 335–353. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40558-020-00177-z.
25. Hannonen, O. (2022). Towards an Understanding of Digital Nomadic Mobilities. Transfers, 12(3), p. 115–126. https://doi.org/10.3167/TRANS.2022.120310
26. Hannonen, O. (2024). Emergent Geographies of Digital Nomadism: Conceptual Framing, Insights and Implications for Tourism. Tourism Geographies, 27(3–4), p. 568–578. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616688.2023.2299845.
27. Holleran, M. (2022). Pandemics and Geoarbitrage: Digital Nomadism Before and After COVID-19. City, 26(5–6), p. 831–847. https://doi.org/10.1080/13604813.2022.2124713
28. Holleran, M., & Notting, M. (2023). Mobility Guilt: Digital Nomads and COVID-19. Tourism Geographies, 25(5), p. 1341–1358. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616688.2023.2217538.
29. Izaguirre, L., & Sandoz, L. (2023). Entrepreneurship as Self-improvement: Stories of Freedom and Recarity among Self-employed People on the Move in São Paulo and Barcelona. Mobility Humanities, 2(2), p. 27–48. https://doi.org/10.23090/MH.2023.07.2.2.027.
30. Kaya Sayarı, B., & Coşkun, İ. O. (2024). Deconstructing Digital Nomads: Are They the Last Frontiers of the Post- tourist? Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes, 16(3), p. 258–268. https://doi.org/10.1108/WHATT-03- 2024-0049.
31. KC, H., & Triandafyllidou, A. (2025). Digital Nomadism and the Emergence of Digital Nomad Visas: What Policy Objectives Do States Aim to Achieve? International Migration Review. https://doi.org/10.1177/01979183241306367.
32. Koll, E., Wang, X., Lin. M.S., (2025). Digital Nomadism as a Form of Travel: A Phenomenological Study of Going on a Workation. Tourism Management, 110. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2025.105185105185.
33. Korpela, M. (2009). When a Trip the Adulthood Becomes a Lifestyle: Western Lifestyle Migrants in Varanasi, India. In M. Benson, & K. O'Reilly (Eds.), Lifestyle Migration: Expectations, Aspiration and Experiences (pp. 15-30). (Studies in Migration and Diaspora). Ashgate.
34. Koskela, K., & Beckers, P. (2024). Typologizing Digital Nomad Visas: Comparing Policy Rationales from Tourism to Wealth Accumulation to Immigration. Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis: Research and Practice, 26(5), p. 407–425. https://doi.org/10.1080/13876988.2024.2343696.
35. Kozak, M., Cetin, G., & Alrawadieh, Z. (2024). Repositioning Work and Leisure: Digital Nomads Versus Tourists. International Journal of Tourism Research, 26(4). https://doi.org/10.1002/jtr.2732.
36. Lacárcel, F. J. S. (2025). Digital technologies, Sustainable Lifestyle, and Tourism: How digital Nomads Navigate Global Mobility? Sustainable Technology and Entrepreneurship, 4(2). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stae.2025.100096.
37. Levac, D., Colquhoun, H., & O’Brien, K. K. (2010). Scoping Studies: Advancing the Methodology. Implementation Science, 5(1), 69. https://doi.org/10.1186/1748-5908-5-69
38. Linao, P. A., Heimtun, B., & Morgan, N. (2024). Digital Nomadism, Gender and Racial Power Relations. Annals of Tourism Research, 106. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2024.103770.
39. Makimoto T., Manners D. (1997). Digital nomad. Wiley, New York.
40. Mancinelli, F. (2018). A Practice of Togetherness: Home Imaginings in the Life of Location-Independent Families. International Journal of Tourism Anthropology, 6(4), p. 307–322. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJTA.2018.096359.
41. Mancinelli, F. (2020). Digital Nomads: Freedom, Responsibility and the Neoliberal Order. Information Technology and Tourism, 22, p. 417–437. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40558-020-00174-2
42. Mancinelli, F., & Germann Molz, J. (2024). Moving with and Against the State: Digital Nomads and Frictional Mobility Regimes. Mobilities, 19(2), p. 189–207. https://doi.org/10.1080/17450101.2023.2209825.
43. Matos, P., & Ardévol, E. (2021). The Potentiality to Move Mobility: Future in Digital Nomads’ Practices. Transfers, 11(3), p. 62–79. https://doi.org/10.3167/TRANS.2021.110304.
44. Methorst, J. J., Johnston, L., & Collins, F. L. (2025). Digital Nomads and Coworking Spaces’ Infrastructures: Disruptions and Repairs of Place, Bodies and Labour During Pandemic Times. Applied Mobilities, p. 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/23800127.2025.2466883.
45. Miguel, C., Lutz, C., Perez-Vega, R., & Majetić, F. (2024). “Alone on the road”: Loneliness Among Digital Nomads and the Use of Social Media to Foster Personal Relationships. Media, Culture and Society 47(3), p. 546-566. https://doi.org/10.1177/01634437241290087.
46. O’Reilly, K., & Benson, M. (2016). Lifestyle Migration: Escaping to the Good Life? In M. Benson and K. O'Reilly (Eds), Lifestyle Migration Expectations, Aspirations and Experiences. Routledge.
47. Özgen Çiğdemli, A.Ö., Yayla, Ş. &Çiğdemli, B.S. (2024). The World from the Perspective of Digital Nomads: Exploring Sentiments in Destination Reviews. Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes, 16(3), p. 303-315. https://doi.org/10.1108/WHATT-03-2024-0044.
48. Prengler, M. K., Klotz, A. C., & Murphy, C. (2024). Place Iteration and Integration: How Digital Nomads Navigate the Mobile Worker Paradox. Administrative Science Quarterly, 70(2), p. 328-366. https://doi.org/10.1177/00018392241302795.
49. Rakhmadi, R. (2022). Role of Digital Nomad in Supporting Tourism in Indonesia: Case Study Bali. Proceedings of the 2nd International Indonesia Conference on Interdisciplinary Studies (IICIS 2021), 606(Iicis), p. 143–148. https://doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.211206.020.
50. Reichenberger, I. (2017). Digital Nomads – A Quest for Holistic Freedom in Work and Leisure. Annals of Leisure Research, 21(3), p. 364–380. https://doi.org/10.1080/11745398.2017.1358098.
51. Sequera, J. (2025). Struggling with the Digital Nomad: Transnational Teleworkers as the New ‘Creative Class’ in the Urban Marketplace? International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 49(1), p. 204–213. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2427.13293.
52. Sheller, M., & Urry, J. (2006). The New Mobilities Paradigm. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 38(2), p. 207–226. https://doi.org/10.1068/a37268
53. Srnicek, N. (2017). Platform Capitalism. Polity Press, Cambridge Malden, MA.
54. Thompson, B. Y. (2018). Digital Nomads Employment in the Online Gig Economy. Glocalism: Journal of Culture, Politics and Innovation, 1, p. 1–26. https://doi.org/10.12893/gjcpi.2018.1.11
55. Thompson BY (2021). Digital Nomads Living on the Margins: Remote-Working Laptop Entrepreneurs in the Gig Economy. Bingley: Emerald Publishing Limited.
56. Toivanen, M. (2023). Countercultural Lifestyle No More?: Digital Nomadism and the Commodification of Neo-Nomadic Mobilities. Mobility Humanities, 2(2), p. 70–89. https://doi.org/10.23090/MH.2023.07.2.2.070.
57. Tricco, A. C., Lillie, E., Zarin, W., O’Brien, K. K., Colquhoun, H., Levac, D., Moher, D., Peters, M. D. J., Horsley, T., Weeks, L., Hempel, S., Akl, E. A., Chang, C., McGowan, J., Stewart, L., Hartling, L., Aldcroft, A., Wilson, M. G., Garritty, C., &
58. Straus, S. E. (2018). PRISMA Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR): Checklist and Explanation. Annals of Internal Medicine, 169(7), p. 467–473. https://doi.org/10.7326/M18-0850
59. Vohra, V., Banishetty, S., Dutta, T. & Joshi, A. (2025). "Work, Wander and Repeat: Modeling the Enablers of Digital Nomadic Lifestyle," Journal of Global Mobility, 13(1), p. 77-106. https://doi.org/10.1108/JGM-05-2024- 0044.
60. Von Zumbusch, J.S.H., Lalicic, L. (2020). The Role of Co-Living Spaces in Digital Nomads’ Well-Being. Information Technology & Tourism, 22, p. 439–453. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40558-020-00182-2.
61. Wibowo, T. O. (2024). Dynamic of Migration Lifestyle and Settlement of Nomad in Bali, Indonesia. Indonesian Journal of Geography, 56(2), p. 292–299. https://doi.org/10.22146/ijg.90856.
62. Woodcock, J., & Graham, M. (2019). The Gig Economy: Critical introduction (first edition). Polity.
63. Yu, K., Zhang, J., & Hannam, K. (2024). Welcome to ‘Dalifornia’: Chinese Digital Nomads as Mobile Entrepreneurs. Current Issues in Tourism. https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2024.2376884.
64. Zhou, L., Buhalis, D., Fan, D. X., Ladkin, A., & Lian, X. (2024). Attracting Digital Nomads: Smart Destination Strategies, Innovation and Competitiveness. Journal of Destination Marketing & Management, 31, 100850, p.1- 12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdmm.2023.100850.