How Digital Nomads Reshaped Cities Around the World (restofworld.org) 66
"They bring luxury workspaces, fancy coffee shops... and rising rents," reports Rest of World.org, visiting a coworking space with 70 people in its cafe and 100 more in its second-floor coworking area, that "looks as if it were picked up in Silicon Valley and dropped into Colombia by a crane...
Coders and digital marketers crowd the tables, drinking pour-over coffee and enjoying loaded avocado toast. Downstairs, in the coffee shop, a stylish woman with a ring light on her laptop chats with a client thousands of kilometers away. Upstairs, in the dedicated office space, an American wearing an Oculus Rift headset attends a meeting in the metaverse. Most of the workers here are employed in the U.S., but relaxed post-pandemic office norms permit them to work from anywhere. This is the mobile, location-independent lifestyle of the digital nomad...
[The Colombian city] Medellín is one of the latest hot spots to join a global nomad circuit that spans tropical latitudes. Southeast Asia remains the preferred destination for nomads — on popular website Nomad List, four of the top 10 cities are from the region. The list also features less-expensive European cities in Portugal and Romania, as well as Latin American destinations like Mexico City, which share time zones with the U.S. The typical nomad might visit 12 or 13 countries in a year, all the while holding down a corporate job, usually in the tech sector...
But the income differential between the nomads and the Colombian professional class is immense. The result is runaway price inflation — rents in Laureles have skyrocketed, and restaurants cannot raise their prices fast enough. A one-bedroom in Medellín now rents for the "gringo price" of about $1,300 a month, in a country where the median monthly income is $300.
A digital nomad community "can distort the local economy," the article points out
[The Colombian city] Medellín is one of the latest hot spots to join a global nomad circuit that spans tropical latitudes. Southeast Asia remains the preferred destination for nomads — on popular website Nomad List, four of the top 10 cities are from the region. The list also features less-expensive European cities in Portugal and Romania, as well as Latin American destinations like Mexico City, which share time zones with the U.S. The typical nomad might visit 12 or 13 countries in a year, all the while holding down a corporate job, usually in the tech sector...
But the income differential between the nomads and the Colombian professional class is immense. The result is runaway price inflation — rents in Laureles have skyrocketed, and restaurants cannot raise their prices fast enough. A one-bedroom in Medellín now rents for the "gringo price" of about $1,300 a month, in a country where the median monthly income is $300.
A digital nomad community "can distort the local economy," the article points out
- In Mexico city this November, people "took to the streets...to protest gentrification and rising rents."
- Portugal "curtailed licenses for Airbnbs in an attempt to calm rising housing costs."
Right now the top six four cities are Buenos Aires, Bangkok, Mexico City, and Canggu (in Bali), according to the article.
It'll hurt in the short term (Score:2, Troll)
But in the long run, assuming the local politics have corruption under some degree of control, this will improve things for everyone.
The digital nomads come in, they make big bucks in stronger foreign currencies and don't realize how much above the local norm they're paying for things, driving local inflation... but this will also drive increasing salaries and create jobs until the cost of living gets high enough to slow down the influx of digital nomads. By that point, you're going to see a local increase
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Make no mistake these are wolves in sheep clothing.
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rents go high enough
This is really the crux of the issue and inflation only adds a small amount to increasing rent, especially as the scenario laid out usually does come true (wealthier people moving into a city tends to increase in local standard of living and wages for everyone). It's a total lack of supply in these urban areas that pushes rents well past the inflation rate.
Thing is these cities have to respond by updating their zoning laws and allowing sufficent new housing to fill the new demand for both the newcomers and
Re:It'll hurt in the short term (Score:5, Insightful)
Thing is these cities have to respond by updating their zoning laws and allowing sufficent new housing to fill the new demand for both the newcomers and locals as well as the locals not nimbying every new development plan into dust.
Tell us you have no idea how little land is available in cities to build new housing without saying you have no idea about how little land is available in cities to build new housing.
For all the people who like to say how easy it is for them living in a city to go someplace nearby for food or drinks without needing a car, they clearly don't understand what rezoning to allow more housing would mean for their "lifestyle".
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I'm not trying to be too dickish here but is this a real answer for this issue? "Not enough land?" Tokyo is like the largest single metro area in the world and they built more housing than the entirety of California and Cascadia.
We need to address building codes, zoning, environemtnal approvals and several other factors before we can even get close to saying "cities are full folks".
Meanwhile the American city that is the most walkable with what is pretty much the only functional mass transit system in the e
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I'm not trying to be too dickish here but is this a real answer for this issue? "Not enough land?"
No, it isn't. To illustrate: I live in Europe, in a city. This one with mostly three story single family row houses, not free-standing, some appartment buildings. No high rises though. Some light industry mixed in. (Eg. an engine revision shop, a manufacturer of printing press inks, a bus depot, as just some examples tucked between and behind the housing.) Twice a week a street market, about six supermarkets, plenty of specialty shops mostly concentrated in one or two shopping centres all in walking distanc
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Cities across the planet are seeing office buildings empty out. While repurposing offices into residences may not lead to the very best of properties, it's still viable and cities only aren't encouraging it because they don't want to kill a golden goose that's already dead. They want that sweet tax money back, but it's not coming back.
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For all the people who like to say how easy it is for them living in a city to go someplace nearby for food or drinks without needing a car, they clearly don't understand what rezoning to allow more housing would mean for their "lifestyle".
That's not how (good) cities work. You don't just have a giant building on its own lot that's only a restaurant, that's a suburbs thing. Ground floor is restaurants, bars, cares and other commercial uses, the rest is residential. The denser residential can support more businesses.
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Bingo.
These kinds of problems can be solved, but only if the people making the decisions want to do so, and have a little foresight.
Not enough housing causing rents to go up? Build more housing that's affordable and rents will go down. It's not rocket science.
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Not enough housing causing rents to go up? Build more housing that's affordable and rents will go down. It's not rocket science.
The people that own property don't want that.
Re:It'll hurt in the short term (Score:4, Insightful)
Income Tax will Fix It (Score:2)
Exactly and when there are enough of them and the local government realises this they will find a way to tax that income at which point the number of digital nomads will drastically reduce and the ones the remain will at least be paying for the local services and infrastructure that they use.
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Ye olde timey trickle-down economics, debunked by the '90s but still alive today in the hearts of the true believers.
The TFA was talking about the home of the Medellin Cartel! But please, name any other place which allows it's citizens to live in poverty while its leadership enjoys riches, that has corruption under some degree of control.
Re:It'll hurt in the short term (Score:4, Insightful)
Trickle-down economics is the idea that you don't tax the rich and you subsidize their businesses because it'll 'trickle down'. That is indeed bullshit.
It also has zero relevance to the idea of having wealthier people move into a lower-income area. Those people will buy goods and services while living in their new homes. They will indeed be injecting their foreign income into the local economy and creating jobs... unless you think they're having their groceries and servants shipped from their place of origin?
So please, the next time you want to post a snarky reply, at least first think about whether you have your facts straight or if maybe you're just opening your mouth and confirming you're a fool trying to put someone else down without the ability to actually do so.
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Re: It'll hurt in the short term (Score:2)
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Those jobs aren't worse (and probably better, really) than working shifts in a factory.
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I've done both and honestly as mind-numbingly dull as factory work can be, I'd prefer it over service work. A percentage of the public are assholes, and front line customer-facing employees get to meet them all.
Re: It'll hurt in the short term (Score:2)
Oculus Rift headset meetings (Score:2)
Can a meeting of one still be called a meeting?
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They may or may not be working for Facebook, but they're still likely working on something idiotic.
As a side note - I wouldn't be surprised if this puff piece of an "article" was paid for, one way or another, by that company.
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Who the hell is using the Metaverse for meetings unless they work for Facebook and are required to do something that idiotic.
Meta: "We have over 20,000 users of our Metaverse product!"
Press: "Yeah, but how many of those DON'T WORK for Meta?"
Meta: "Ahh...look at what Mark Zuckerberg has contributed to in the area of...ahhh..."
Just Wait (Score:1)
Until someone starts kidnapping those rich gringos! Live in Colombia? Are you nuts?
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If the wealthy tourists are kidnapped then that will mean fewer wealthy tourists in the future. Also, if the kidnapping goes wrong then the outcome could be everyone involved getting picked off in a hail of rifle shots from US Navy snipers. That happened at least once before.
There would be a better long term outcome by bringing some level of law and order to the area. If there's pickpockets stealing money then the "gringos" cut their trip short and never come back, and also tell friends not to go. Show
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The malls have real security, where the guards check for bombs. Everyone either has an automatic gate or doorman. The cops have automatic weapons.
That said, Medellin was become one of the safer cities and the influx of rich foreigners has seemed to rever
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Not only that, but you end up risking issues with Immigration when local people start complaining. A populist leader is all it takes to mess with your life.
We are living in the future. (Score:4, Insightful)
I recall someone pointing out that the future is here, only it is not evenly distributed. What is the expected norms of daily life today was once something only the wealthy and privileged could enjoy at some time in the past, and even then they'd all not get all of what we have. The same goes for wealth. People that move in with money will disrupt the economy and drive up prices, but in time that wealth will spread out as wages rise and jobs are created to compensate.
I recall reading something about how opening a factory in some poor neighborhood was not "fair" because not everyone could get one of the high paying jobs the factory offered. What should we do about it? Keep these people in poverty forever? The factory is bringing the future to this town/region/nation/whatever. With this comes technology and wealth. Not everyone is going to benefit at once. That transition is going to be unpleasant for some. Perhaps there's a way to slow this transition down to ease the "growing pains", but it won't make them go away.
We are living in the future. This life we live is the kind we dreamed about only decades ago. The future will be distributed unevenly over the world.
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If you can't get a house, you're still poor! (Score:3)
Disproportionate wealth does seem to create more misery despite and the alleviations of poverty.
You're only allowing people to buy toys. Sure, you can afford a few big screen TVs, consoles, nice computers, Apple devices, etc. However, the big 3 expenses are a home, education, and kids. All 3 are really expensive in the presence of income inequality. So it's a bullshit argument to say people are wealthy because they have iPhones and unlimited entertainment. A middle class lifestyle means being able to afford a roof over your head, adequate education for your kids, and at least 2 kids....if you and
Income (Score:2)
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Isn't the point of the article that these people didn't move? They may be making extended visits, lasting perhaps months, but they don't intent to stay there. It sounds like they take a long trip to some cheap vacation spot to "work from home" so that after work they can enjoy some cheap nights out for food, drinks, and dance. After they tire of that they go home for a bit, then plan another extended stay in some other cheap vacation spot. These spots are catering to these "digital nomads" by offering n
a legal question (Score:2)
such policies are perfectly logical but are illegal in some countries
Article is missing an important point. (Score:3)
So, author of the article is complaining that people are bringing in money into their area? Actually paying for services and rent and driving the economy of where they stay?
Wake up and smell the coffee, prices are up everywhere, but blaming the very people who is dumping money into a specific community seems really short-sighted.
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Eh.
It is essentially the gentrification issue.
And it's not "dumping money", but very focused purchasing causing disruption to other parts of the economy who are not beneficiaries to this new influx of cash, until that area becomes too expensive and people move on.
And we can see the end effect of this- look at Detroit.
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Remains to be seen (Score:5, Interesting)
It remains to be seen whether this is actually a trend, or just a short-term fad. Despite all the talk about remote work, the vast majority of "digital nomads" I'm aware of are basically just bloggers. And as VC capital dries up (or the awards process becomes more discerning), those bloggers may find themselves unable to afford their current wandering lifestyle.
No one stays a nomad AND employed AND married. (Score:2)
It remains to be seen whether this is actually a trend, or just a short-term fad. Despite all the talk about remote work, the vast majority of "digital nomads" I'm aware of are basically just bloggers.
I think you're onto something. I know several digital nomads, going back to the dot-com era 90s. Most were highly specialized engineers or consultants. Here's the thing about nomads, they eventually settle down. Going on vaca to an exotic locale and staying longer by working there is fun...for a short period of time. Eventually, most of us crave settling down roots. Even if your job allows you to work from anywhere, what about your spouse? It's a fun adventure in your 20s, especially when you have t
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I am settled down - on a small island in Philippines with my Filipina wife.
You think a small island is a good place to survive what's coming? I hope you're in your nineties.
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I know several digital nomads, going back to the dot-com era 90s. Most were highly specialized engineers or consultants.
Sort of a tangent - and not meant to be argumentative at all - but have these people actually been moving their "home base" from place to place? The folks I've known in those roles typically owned a house somewhere (w/ a home office) where they spent the majority of their time, even if they were flying somewhere else for a few weeks/months for particular gigs.
I've been under the impression that this current group of "digital nomads" are living more like expatriates, with their only home being wherever they
Stop with the fucking avocado propaganda (Score:4, Informative)
Can someone explain to me why "avocado toast" is a thing? Avocado has a really horrible taste, almost like it evolved this way to avoid being eaten.
You must not be in N America...you're in EU/Asia? (Score:3)
Can someone explain to me why "avocado toast" is a thing? Avocado has a really horrible taste, almost like it evolved this way to avoid being eaten.
Taste is subjective. I've honestly never had avocado toast because it became fashionable after I had kids and I don't eat out very much. However, I love ripe avocado in salad and guacamole is AMAZING!!!! You must live in Europe or Asia if you say this, because guacamole is really popular in the USA and Mexico. Even if it's not for you, most of your friends like it. I think you're the odd one there if eating avocado is unfathomable...especially in guacamole form
That said, I'm a weird guy who hates
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I've honestly never had avocado toast because it became fashionable after I had kids and I don't eat out very much.
You know, you can bring home an avocado. Two, if you like. There's no law against it, yet. Although if the religious reich has their way they will no doubt ban them for their resemblance to dark-skinned ballbags.
Back in the day, when Alfaro's was a local concern and not yet owned by Sara Lee, I used to make a ton of avocado toast with their bread. A nice sourdough is the best avocado substrate by far.
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I dunno, I've tried it in Europe and the US and it just tastes like wet cardboard to me.
But the meme has nothing to do with taste anyway, it's boomers saying that anyone who complains about money is just wasting too much buying avocado toast, which they see as overpriced hipster food.
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Lots of people eat avocado in various state. I like it best as guacamole. But I also like eat with a spoon with lime and salt. On a toast as "avocado toast" is a waste of a good toast and a good avocado for me. But I know people who like them.
In general taste vary from people to people. My dad love leeks even though I truly hate their taste.
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Explaining the avocado toast meme:
https://knowyourmeme.com/memes... [knowyourmeme.com]
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Can someone explain to me why "avocado toast" is a thing? Avocado has a really horrible taste
About two thirds of people disagree with you. Your minority view is not irrelevant, but it is a shit take.
rly (Score:2)
Upstairs, in the dedicated office space, an American wearing an Oculus Rift headset attends a meeting in the metaverse.
jumping the shark a tiny bit there, bud ;-)
Accelerated Wealth Distribution (Score:2)
Nice. Wouldn't mind living a (somewhat) frugal lifestyle in a 2nd World country if my spending ups the lifestyle of half a village notably.
Digital Nomads usually live quite minimalist and apparently only disrupt via wealth transfer. That's a win-win-win situation, unlike some rich dude buying an island and closing it off to the public, disrupting everything and not spreading any wealth to the locals.
Medellín as in... (Score:1)
...Pablo Escobar's Medellín Cartel!
Holy crap, How times change.
Greenhouse gas emissions (Score:2)
The typical nomad might visit 12 or 13 countries in a year
In the meantime, some are trying to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.../pA
I know two of these (Score:2)
Worked in tech for more than twenty years. Most of my contacts are technology professionals, and many of my close friends.
I know two people who have gone the "digital nomad" path. They noth seem reasonably happy with it, at least though the filter of their social media posts.
But it's hard for me to believe this is a mainstream movement, at least here in Australia, to the point that people are redefining cities.
Bali (Score:2)
Right now the top six four cities are Buenos Aires, Bangkok, Mexico City, and Canggu (in Bali), according to the article.
How do you work in the Bali timezone for companies in the USA? Wake up at 2:00 AM for your morning standup?
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Bali is full of Australian and American hipsters. Heck, Asians from the region sometimes join in with a similar expat, nomadic lifestyle.
Avoid hipster meccas, stay low key, and haggle (Score:1)
Prices go up whenever they see a white person who can't speak the language. The problem is stupid money raises prices for everyone else. If you are one of these said Americans, figure the price would be -60% if you were Russian and -80% if you were local.
Elysium (Score:2)
The next step... (Score:2)
Also, many of the teleworkers I know here (it's a popular place for that) do bullshit jobs that are going to be decimated by LLMs, e.g. writing copy for websites for SEO &/or marketing.
The govt here offers "non-lucrative visas" to attract foreign teleworkers, i.e. they can live here but can only work remotely for foreign companies. In the short term it looks good for local economies, e.g. they have a lot of free time
So, they have benefits ? (Score:2)