Towards alternative platform futures in post-pandemic cities? A case study on platformization and changing socio-spatial relations in on-demand food delivery

Abstract

Digital platforms have become an increasingly central concept for reflecting societal processes, but the historical and spatial embeddedness of platformization is often neglected as dystopian warnings and promises of efficiency take center stage. The Covid-19 pandemic has further intensified discussion and speculation regarding the future of digital platforms and changing everyday routines in (post-)pandemic cities. Drawing on the case study of Graz (Austria), this paper expands generalized speculation by a concrete exploration of what alternative platform futures in (post-)pandemic cities might hold. The underlying aims are to identify case-specific socio-spatial dynamics with respect to the platformization of on-demand food delivery in Graz and to explore in what ways these dynamics were influenced by the pandemic.

The article contextualizes the development of food delivery platforms in Europe, taking into consideration long-term enabling conditions such as neoliberal restructuring, financialization and the crisis of social reproduction, but also the boom of delivery platforms during the ‘lockdowns’ related to the Covid-19 pandemic. The case study draws on qualitative interviews with company officials, delivery workers, union representatives and restaurant owners to investigate the platforms' disruptive and unequal effects. Through this storying of the development of the platform economy for food deliveries in Graz from various perspectives in the pandemic city of the year 2020, the study challenges the narrative of a capital-driven and pervasive platformization. At the same time, the findings point out limitations of the local alternative platform model and contribute to the critical discourse on urban platforms.