Finiq rebirth through digital transformation and “digital nomads”
Author: Dhurata Shehu
Affiliation: PhD IDAUP/ POLIS University
Abstract
The topic of shrinking cities is multifaceted and affects cities, regions of cities, or entire metropolitan areas that have seen a rapid decline in their economic and social foundations. Therefore, urban shrinking is frequently a problem for metropolitan regions on a large scale and necessitates that policymakers rethink conventional regional government models. Also, Albania's population overall decreased yearly. This problem is very known in the case of Finiq municipality, which is part of Vlora city. Most of the settlements that are part of the municipality of Finiq present a social framework consisting of a shrinking and always aging population. For various reasons, mainly economic, unemployment and lack of services, the young population of these areas has mostly migrated to Greece. In order to restructure rural areas in response to shrinkage, information and communication technology (ICT), digitaliza- tion, and knowledge intensive activities are essential. It is important to understand the differ- ent aspects of the digital revolution, since the situation is evolving into a new normal where "digital" is not only a response to an emergency but also an ongoing investment against risk. Studies has shown that digital nomads often prefer settlements outside urban areas so they can be a significant contributor to the recovery of the economy in Finiq, which largely depends on ICT infrastructure level of municipality. A lot of researches for digital nomads concluded that digital nomads could be crucial in promoting entrepreneurship and the development of technology clusters all over the world. So, the research question is: how can digital nomads be developed as a new market segment in Finiq and how can digital nomads be utilized in the local digital ecosystem? This study focuses on digital nomads as an emerging market group and the possible knowledge transfer function they might play in the local digital environment.
Keywords: shrinking, digital transformation, digital nomads, ICT infrastructure, urban planning, isolation.
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