Digital nomads and coworking spaces’ infrastructures: disruptions and repairs of place, bodies and labour during pandemic times

Abstract

The aim of this article is to illustrate how mobility disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic led to a reconfiguration of regulatory, migration and socio-material infrastructures. We share insights about the relationship between (im)mobile lives and infrastructural change by focusing on digital nomads (a group of location-independent workers from predominantly affluent countries working in locations with lower living costs), and coworking spaces in Aotearoa New Zealand (shared workspaces that provide socio-material and technological infrastructure for mobile workers to work from). Destinations that rely on international tourism experienced a devastating loss in foreign arrivals during the COVID-19 pandemic, of which digital nomads form a significant group of. Changes in regulatory infrastructures such as nation state-specific border controls, lockdowns and suspensions on visas, temporarily disrupted commercial and social infrastructures that usually facilitate location-independence. We address these changes through a discussion of findings from 12 semi-structured online interviews with international digital nomads and 11 semi-structured interviews with coworking space managers in Aotearoa New Zealand. Interviews reveal how the pandemic has not only accelerated the shift towards the normalisation of remote work, but also highlight the emergent infrastructures of repair, shedding light on the importance of place, mobilities, materiality, and embodiment in the constitution of location-independence.

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