The study reveals that pressure on cities stems not only from tourism, but also from the coexistence of multiple forms of mobility. Barcelona, a prime example of this reality, receives more than a million non-resident users daily, including tourists, commuters, day-trippers, students, and digital nomads. This diverse and simultaneous mobility transforms the city into a hypermobile space, where the flow of people determines social, economic, and territorial dynamics.

According to the authors, Barcelona welcomed 17 million tourists in 2019, but the number of daily visitors is even higher if day-trippers returning home or staying in nearby areas are included. This constant interaction between residents, tourists, and other users redefines urban boundaries, generating tensions in certain districts, such as Ciutat Vella, where tourism accounts for 22.1% of daily users. In contrast, in areas like the Eixample, commuting and metropolitan traffic are more prevalent.

The project Ciconia It emphasizes that the challenge is not only managing tourist overcrowding, but addressing mobility as a whole. This perspective allows for a better understanding of conflicts over space, gentrification, and resource saturation, and opens the door to new solutions that integrate sustainability, quality of life, and social equity in contemporary cities.

The first three episodes are now available on Spotify. The first episode explores the meaning, impacts, and trends of quality of life migration, led by Dr. José Antonio Donaire Benito, current professor at the University of Girona and director of INSETUR. This episode manages to capture a general idea of the state of the issue. 

In the second episode, we delve into the rural world, understanding that the number of people living in rural areas in Spain has been growing for some years now, generating significant benefits for the region, partly due to migration, digital entrepreneurship, and gastronomic tourism. In this episode, we are joined by Luis del Romero Renau, a geographer from Valencia and PhD specializing in territorial conflicts and depopulation, a member of the CICONIA research group. Yanet González Carmona will help us understand and learn more about digital entrepreneurship in rural areas. A member of the CICONIA team, she is a psychologist specializing in training, focusing on academic guidance and entrepreneurship as a career path. And finally, Mireia Pascual, coordinator of the Chair of Gastronomy, Culture, and Tourism. Calonge i Sant Antoni, who also works in the world of international wine imports, to talk to us about gastronomic tourism and how it can contribute to the growth of the economy and social revitalization in rural areas. 

Finally, in Chapter 3, titled “Personal Crisis,” we will delve into the personal experience of migration and reflect on all the difficulties this process entails, with which many of our listeners may identify. Our guest for this chapter is Ekaterina Shebanova, a recent PhD in Tourism from the University of Girona (UdG). Personal crisis and negative emotions are central to her dissertation, in which she analyzed the migration journey as a transformative experience. She is currently part of the Ciconia project. Also joining us in this chapter is Antares, a psychologist specializing in migrant support, who will shed more light on the grief experienced by migrants, a topic that is often taboo.  

We invite you to listen to these first three episodes and delve into the world of quality of life migration; soon we will have three more episodes in which we will talk about gender and culture. 

The event featured several presentations exploring the intersection of gender, mobility and migration. Magdalena Nowicka addressed gender ideals and equality among young migrants in Germany, revealing the coexistence of traditional gender roles and the desire for equality in relationships, influenced by racialisation in German society. Tara Duncan examined how mobility affects work in tourism and hospitality from a gendered and intersectional perspective, highlighting the contradictions and precariousness in this field. Kevin Hannam re-evaluated research methods in tourist mobilities, focusing on art, photography and film to enrich the understanding of sensorial and emotional experiences in tourism. Antonio Paolo Russo explored the lives of expatriates in tourist cities, using case studies in Venice and Barcelona, and analysed how specialisation in tourism affects their trajectories and stability, proposing an analytical taxonomy of their interactions with other mobile populations.

The event also featured presentations by CICONIA group members and international guests. This workshop was a great success and managed to create a conducive environment to explore lifestyle migration, its main trends and challenges. The event also featured a sightseeing tour of Girona and a gala dinner for all participants.

The research introduces an extended version of the traditional model, incorporating a greater diversity of tourism scenarios and indicators. To carry out the study, twenty key indicators and six different scenarios were chosen, from here the research indicates that changes in tourism patterns are required to achieve significant variations in the indicators. 

The article reveals that changes in tourism patterns are required to impact these indicators. Considering tourist numbers and their typologies in sustainable tourism management will provide destination planners with a valuable tool for strategic decision-making and long-term planning.

The research by Donaire, Galí and Coromina offers a detailed guide to improving the sustainability of tourism in Barcelona. It not only provides an innovative perspective, but can also serve as a model for other cities seeking sustainable and economic development. 

See the article here https://www.ciconiaproject.com/varis/evaluating-tourism-scenarios-within-the-limit-of-acceptable-change-framework-in-barcelona/

We start with Tara Duncan, Professor of Tourism Studies at the School of Culture and Society at Dalarna University in Sweden. She studied geography, and current research focuses on the intersections between mobilities, work and tourism on decent work, dignity and sustainability within tourism and hospitality careers. Duncan was awarded the 2023 John Rooney Prize for her contributions to the field and discipline of Applied Geography of Leisure, Tourism and Sport by the AG-RTS. She is currently the President of the Association for Education and Research in Tourism and Leisure, which promotes educational initiatives in tourism and leisure by facilitating research and networking opportunities for higher education staff and students.  

Secondly, we would like to introduce you to Dr Kevin Hannam, who has extensive experience in senior management, leadership, business strategic planning and resource management. Over the years, he has developed transnational educational partnerships in the UK, Europe, China, India and South East Asia, leading knowledge transfer and building relationships with diverse organisations, businesses, social, public bodies, etc. He is one of the pioneering academics in the social sciences mobility paradigm and founding co-editor of the interdisciplinary journals Mobilities and Applied Mobilities.

The third speaker is Magdalena Nowicka, Head of the Department of Integration at the Institute of Social Sciences at the Humboldt University of Berlin. She holds a PhD in sociology and studied political science and cultural studies at the university level. Her research interests and topics are: qualitative methods of empirical social research, processes of transnational socialisation, coexistence and cosmopolitanism, and intersectionality and social inequalities. Dr. Nowicka is a member of the German Sociological Association, the Migration Council, various research networks and editorial boards of international journals.

Antonio Paolo Russo is the fourth speaker to participate in Mob24. Dr. Russo is a professor of Urban Geography at the Rovira i Virgili University Mr. Antonio Russo is a member of the Territorial Analysis and Tourism Studies Research Group and coordinator of the Doctoral Programme in Tourism and Leisure at the URV. He is the author of numerous publications on topics of tourism development, urban geography, mobility and territorial planning in the most important journals in the sector. Finally, it is also important to highlight that Mr. Antonio Russo has coordinated or participated in several competitive research projects, funded by the European Union, international organisations, R&D&I programmes of the Spanish government, and local administrations such as Barcelona, Tarragona and Venice. He is the coordinator of the special interest group “Space Place Mobilities in Tourism” of the ATLAS network.

MOB24 will be an event where experts will discuss and reflect on the main themes and trends of this constantly changing world.

This research aims to precisely define the profile of digital nomads, both Spanish and international, who choose Barcelona as their residence destination in order to understand how they live, their experiences, how they organize their stay and their daily life in the city.

With the collaboration with the Institut Opinòmetre, an exhaustive survey will be carried out that focuses on coworking spaces in the Barcelona districts of Poblenou and Gràcia.

To achieve the objective, the habits that digital nomads develop in comparison to traditional tourists will be identified and analyzed. The survey responses also aim to discover the possible benefits and drawbacks that their presence may bring to the Catalan capital, known above all for its tourist activity.

With the results of the research, it is expected to contribute to the development of policies and services that improve the experience of both digital nomads and local residents, promoting coexistence that benefits both parties.

At the 21st Annual IMISCOE Conference in Lisbon, which takes place from July 2 to 5, Zerva Konstantina, Mónica Segovia and Raquel Hueta will present their study on internal migration in southern Europe.

In August, the same doctor Konstantia Zera and doctor José Antonio Donaire Benito from the University of Girona will participate in the presentation titled “From Over Tourism to Overall-Mobility: Barcelona's City Users” at the 35th International Geographic Congress of Dublin, which will be celebrated between August 24 and 30, 2024. 

In addition, the geographer, researcher and activist professor at the University of Valencia, Luis del Romero Renau and Núria Galí, doctor and professor at the Faculty of Tourism of the UdG  will participate in the POLLEN 2024 Conference, which will be held in Lund, Sweden, from June 10 to 12, 2024. The conference revolves around political ecology and the two researchers will talk about new ruralities that are built by migrations by quality of life. POLLEN is organized by the Center for Sustainability Studies at Lund University. 

These eleven factors have been divided into three subgroups: Positive, negative or neutral. By
For example, loneliness and visa management would be within the negative subgroup, while
that the attraction for travel and cultural immersion within the positive.

The study has focused on the analysis of content generated by users on the Internet
social X, formerly known as Twitter, applying data mining techniques in this
content. The study concludes that quality of life and technological connectivity are the factors
keys to making destination decisions for digital nomads.

Lacárcel, FJS, Huete, R., & Zerva, K. (2024). Decoding digital nomad destination decisions through user-generated content. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 200, 123098.

See the article: https://www.ciconiaproject.com/varis/decoding-digital-nomad-destination-decisions-throughuser-generated-content/

The conceptual framework developed, called the Continuum of Movement, shows how personal crises can be catalysts for migration or for maintaining continuous mobility. Contrary to previous beliefs, crises do not always lead to a return to the country of origin, but can motivate individuals to stay in the country where they have emigrated or continue living in other countries. The article suggests the need for greater understanding of lifestyle dynamics in migration and mobility decisions, especially in a changing global context. 

Furthermore, they highlight the importance of examining the realities faced by mobile populations, as is the case of the young Russians under study. In summary, this study highlights the relevance of considering personal crises in the analysis of migration and mobility, and argues for continued research on individual mobility patterns in a post-COVID-19 world. 

Ekaterina Shebanova, Tara Duncan & Dani Blasco Franch (2023): Personal crisis as a catalyst in a Movement Continuum of tourism lifestyle mobilities, Tourism Geographies, DOI: 10.1080/14616688.2023.2290660

Article inquiry: https://www.ciconiaproject.com/varis/personal-crisis-as-a-catalyser-in-a-movement-continuum-of-tourism-lifestyle-mobilities/

Under the motto «Transformative societies, migration and lifestyle at the crossroads in space and place«, the main objective of the event organized by CICONIA-Insetur of the University of Girona is to thoroughly analyze quality of life migration at a local and international level, considering its various manifestations in different territorial and social contexts.

The program will be structured around four central themes: "New Mobilities?", "Urban and Rural Spaces", "Gender Mobilities" and "Human and Non-Human Interactions". Each of these themes will provide a vital space for reflection and exchange of ideas on different aspects related to lifestyle migration, including the role of gender in mobility and the transformation of urban and rural spaces.

Mob24 promises to be a unique opportunity to participate in an enriching academic environment, while enjoying the cultural and gastronomic experiences that the charming city of Girona offers.