This dataset presents the first- and second-cycle qualitative coding developed from ethnographic and digital research conducted within the HL-EXURB project (2024–2025) in Akyaka, Turkey. It documents how creative ex-urbanites connect urban, rural, and digital spaces through their everyday practices.

The first-cycle coding (breaking-down) consists of 36 inductively derived codes capturing participants’ lived experiences, including digital connectivity, translocal work practices, urban dependencies, rural everyday life, mobility patterns, local integration dynamics, and alternative economic practices. Each code is accompanied by a short analytical description and anonymised translated data extracts from in-depth interviews.

The second-cycle coding (clustering) groups these codes into 10 broader analytical clusters, identifying key patterns such as digital-mediated connection, urban–rural circulation, mobile living arrangements, community dynamics, creative production, and structural constraints.

The dataset supports transparency and reproducibility of qualitative analysis by making the coding structure and interpretive logic explicit. Sensitive personal data have been removed; only anonymised excerpts are included. The material is intended for reuse in qualitative research, comparative studies on rural transformation, and teaching purposes.