Why tie yourself to the hectic pace of city life when you can work from anywhere? That question is at the heart of the digital nomad and south working phenomenon.
Even before the coronavirus emergency, which introduced smart working into everyone's vocabulary, there were people who were revolutionising their lives to make them less monotonous and to breathe in freedom and adventure. Working, but with no need to clock in at a fixed address, and choosing a place in the world according to their own inclinations, with the freedom to move on again should circumstances suggest it. Those who pursue this philosophy in every respect are called digital nomads.
Two conditions characterise digital nomads: the ability to travel whenever they choose and to practise their profession anywhere with minimal equipment — typically a computer, a smartphone, an internet connection and little else. They are content creators, digital entrepreneurs, copywriters, teachers who give lessons online, psychologists who see patients remotely. Often, to cover their expenses, they rent out their home in their city of origin. Their status is difficult to define, caught as it is between that of tourists and residents. They are people who are not content merely to collect a salary but care about giving meaning to their days, guided by the yolo philosophy (an acronym for you only live once).
As Dave Cook, an anthropologist at University College London (Ucl), explains, it all began when droves of young people moved to major cities, convinced that opportunities would be plentiful and that the benefits would outweigh the costs. Until burnout arrived — a collision with a reality very different from the one they had imagined. The investment of time and money in pursuing a traditional career had not brought the fulfilment they had so longed for.
Before border restrictions, many of them decided to take flight towards distant and idyllic destinations, breaking the chains that had bound them to a specific place, with a renewed awareness of what they truly needed. No car, little stability, a meagre selection of clothes and belongings that could fit into a suitcase. But, in return, freedom from the frenetic and monotonous pace, and a far broader horizon, rich in the stimuli that come from encounters with different cultures.
The pandemic encouraged new ways of living and working that strengthened these trends. On one hand, Covid-19 brought international travel to a prolonged halt, but on the other, it definitively made remote working mainstream. Companies accepted and encouraged it; people interpreted it more broadly, looking to their deeper needs.
According to the Smart Working Observatory of the School of Management at the Politecnico di Milano, by the end of the emergency at least 5.35 million workers will be working (wholly or in part) remotely — a figure ten times higher than the roughly 570,000 recorded before the pandemic. And this estimate refers only to those employed on permanent contracts.
With the health emergency, Dave Cook continues, many digital nomads were forced to stay in the same place for longer. In the meantime, offices emptied out, allowing employees to get a taste of the digital nomad lifestyle. The very approach to work changed, decoupling objectives and productivity from physical presence in the office.
The pandemic eroded many of the reasons why people had chosen city life: no more cultural or social occasions, no need to go to the office or meet clients. Against this backdrop, the cost of living remained high, spaces were cramped and the air was polluted. For many, the question arose naturally: what was the point?
From this came the idea of making a change. Given the restrictions, moving around for short periods became more inconvenient and (at certain stages) illegal; it was therefore better to relocate once and for all. Cities emptied out and many people, especially southerners, returned to their home regions, to be closer to loved ones and nature and to enjoy a better quality of life — all while continuing to work remotely for companies in the north, thanks to the internet and digital tools. A phenomenon that was renamed south working.
And so small towns welcomed back the young people who had left them. Demonstrating that generating wealth in the north does not necessarily mean depopulating villages in the south. And that it is possible to reconcile productivity with a slower, more human pace, investing one's salary in bringing prosperity to the area where one lives, rather than filling up the car and clocking up kilometres to reach the office.
Sustainable South Working (Ssw) is a corporate innovation acceleration programme born from precisely this spirit: to strengthen a local offering that is not merely touristic but also business-oriented, in parts of Italy that are not central to the country's productive geography — starting with the south.
The programme takes place in Sicily, specifically at Isola Catania, a coworking and innovation hub inside Palazzo Biscari, a magnificent example of Sicilian baroque architecture overlooking the sea. Over two weeks, four startups work to find innovative and multidisciplinary solutions to a challenge put forward by the partner company. During this period, Ssw offers training moments including workshops, testimonials, classroom lessons and team-building and mentoring activities. All of this is underpinned by sustainability, innovation and an experiential approach to engaging with the local area — in contact with nature and local communities, with a strong emphasis on a sustainable approach to travel.
Ssw is a project by LifeGate Way, the group subsidiary responsible for building an ecosystem of inherently sustainable startups, in collaboration with Opinno, a global innovation consultancy.
Given the advantages for certain so-called minor, inland and decentralised destinations, the most forward-thinking administrations have encouraged these trends by supporting the development of infrastructure — first and foremost, widespread connectivity.
The report Tecnologie e soluzioni per i piccoli comuni by Fondazione Symbola shows how innovation is a key to turning challenges into opportunities for communities that are custodians of an immense historical, artistic, natural and food-and-wine heritage. This trend also encompasses initiatives to restore villages and the sale of properties at the symbolic price of one euro, to encourage people to renovate homes and relocate.
In 2020, South Working was also founded, an association that aims to encourage this phenomenon in order to bridge the economic, social and territorial divide between north and south, between industrialised and marginalised areas, including by spreading digital culture among citizens and administrators and promoting public and private initiatives for agile working. It targets in particular areas — such as mountain regions — that are disadvantaged in terms of population density and connectivity, but which offer contexts and structures of the highest historical and cultural value. Many of them are no more than an hour from the nearest airport.
The south working phenomenon, like that of digital nomads, allows for a rebalancing of territories and resources, easing the pressure on cities and injecting new life into areas at risk of depopulation. Destinations thus find themselves competing to attract tourists and new residents, and facilities are adapting to meet remote workers' needs — for example by offering packages that combine the requirements of a parent working remotely with those of the rest of the family on holiday. The trend, however, does not concern only villages in southern Italy. The governments of several countries, such as Bermuda, Estonia and Spain, have begun offering visas to digital nomads. The world has become very small again.
