Digital work: where is the urban workplace and why does it matter?

Abstract

ABSTRACT Digital technologies are involved in altered, and sometimes new, geographies of work in cities. This article uses the example of the office and platform food or grocery delivery in the UK to demonstrate how digital technologies enable flexible workspace arrangements. This flexibility is distinct from some previous geographies in which a fixed workplace was necessary for production. The article shows how such contemporary geography manifests through the seemingly-contradictory spatial tendencies that constitute the practices of digital work in which the location of the workplace is ambiguous: both anywhere and nowhere. While office work extends beyond a physical office building and, thus, can take place anywhere, platform delivery often involves no fixed workplace for workers in urban areas. Considering where the workplace is with digital technologies not only broadens the conventional sphere of labour politics, but also provides a different perspective on the role of work in contemporary capitalist economies.