URBACT - Remote-IT
The Remote-IT network, comprising 8 predominantly small and medium sized European cities, was developed to tackle the challenge of the future of work. It has a two-layered approach - firstly an ‘external’ layer which explores how to ensure that remote workers and digital nomads contribute to the local economy, often within the context of an already challenging sustainable tourism context and secondly an ‘internal’ layer which considers the cities themselves as employers of hybrid and remote workers. Whilst clearly related, these two topics sometimes raise quite different questions. However, the cities are looking at a number of priorities which connect the two, including the need for:
Flexible and affordable workspace which is embedded in the local economy
- Places, programmes and communities that are welcoming and encourage people to develop a sense of belonging
Affordable housing and accommodation
The rise of digital nomads and remote work in the EU
Accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic and sustained by shifting expectations around work-life balance and digital connectivity, remote work is now commonplace across the EU. By 2022, nearly 40% of EU workers were working remotely at least part of the time, significantly more than before the pandemic. More than 25 countries have launched digital nomad visas or remote work schemes, including Portugal, Estonia, Croatia, and Greece. It is no coincidence that these countries are represented in the Remote-IT network.
Many large European cities are especially attractive to digital nomads thanks to their strong infrastructure, cultural vibrancy, and quality of life. Cities like Lisbon, Barcelona, and Tallinn have become hubs for remote professionals, offering co-working spaces, events, and communities tailored to mobile workers. Many other smaller towns and cities see the opportunity to harness and retain talented people who will contribute to local economic and community development.
However, the digital nomad community is not representative. There is very little robust research to date but the little that does exist suggests that men are still overrepresented, making up at least 60% of digital nomads and continuing to dominate higher-paid tech and digital roles which are more suited to remote working. Barriers such as visa access, safety concerns, uneven caregiving responsibilities, and lack of support networks can disproportionately affect women and other marginalised groups. Without intentional design, these inequalities risk being replicated, or even amplified, in the emerging remote work landscape.
Flexibility without fairness risks reinforcing the old inequalities in new ways.
Why Gender Equality Matters - also for Remote-IT cities
Gender equality matters for all cities, both as a question of justice (who has equal rights to the city?) and also as a pathway to better urban policy and environments that serve everyone better.
Looking at remote work and the digital nomad movement through the lens of gender equality in cities is not straightforward. There are definitely more questions than answers and more guesses and assumptions than robust evidence.
However, the rise of remote work and digital nomadism is often framed as offering more freedom, flexibility, and increased access to economic opportunity. But it is not clear if these benefits are distributed equally. Gender, along with other intersecting factors such as class, race, financial circumstance and caregiving responsibilities, continues to shape who can access, sustain, and benefit from these new ways of working.
Remote and hybrid working arrangements can offer flexibility that helps people balance paid work with unpaid care responsibilities - roles still disproportionately carried by women. But these same arrangements can also obscure inequality.
First of all the opportunity is not afforded equally. In many sectors the occupations that are traditionally taken up by women such as teaching or health and social care are not suited to remote work.
When women work remotely more often than men, they may become less visible to managers and decision-makers, receive fewer advancement opportunities (sometimes called this proximity bias), or end up shouldering even more domestic labour at home - thereby reinforcing, rather than breaking down, existing gender stereotypes.In the digital nomad space, inequalities take on a different shape. Whilst this sort of mobility is also often associated with freedom and independence, it also comes with barriers that are not experienced equally by men and women - including visa rules tied to income thresholds, safety concerns while travelling or in urban public spaces, or limited representation in local entrepreneurial ecosystems where the ‘bro-culture’ can be prevalent.
So, the shift toward remote and mobile work isn’t automatically progressive. Unless gender equality is explicitly built into the design of urban work strategies — including infrastructure, recruitment, employment and supply chain policies, and services — the promise of flexibility may come at the cost of fairness.
This is not just a matter of equity; it’s one of effectiveness. Cities that want to remain attractive, resilient, and innovative will need to ensure that women — in all their diversity — are visible, supported, and empowered in the future of work.
Remote work reimagines where and how we work - now it's time to reimagine who benefits.
What EU cities are doing to support gender equality - and how is this useful to Remote-IT cities?
URBACT’s Gender Equal Cities work has identified 10 steps cities can take to improve Gender Equality and these are as valid to remote working as they are to any other city priority.
Article written by URBACT experts Alison Partridge and Sally Kneeshaw.
