Silicon Savannahs and motorcycle taxis: A Southern perspective on the frontiers of platform urbanism

Abstract

The rise of digital platforms in urban Africa has been rightfully critiqued as an example of global techno-capital seeking new frontiers of profit among precarious lives and from fragile infrastructures. However, this techno-pessimistic reading of so-called “platform urbanism” leaves us with a bleak outlook on the future of the African city as a mere site of accumulation and exploitation. In this article, in contrast, we offer a more ambivalent analysis of a compelling trend in several African cities: the platformization of motorcycle taxis. Our focus is on Kigali and Nairobi two cities that have been celebrated as “Silicon Savannahs” for their commitment to digital innovation, and where motorcycle taxis have long contributed to the regular movement of people and goods. Deploying a Southern urban perspective on the digitization of these mobility systems, we make two contributions to platform urbanism debates. First, we show that this phenomenon dovetails two decades of supply-side, developmental investments in the connectivity infrastructure upon which platforms rely and are predicated. Second, we show that platform urbanism is not simply a case of global technologies landing in Africa. It is characterized by a proliferation of experiments in which domestic and international capital coalesce, platforms intersect in dynamic ways with informal economies, and local adaptations are necessary for survival. Overall, we argue that the platformization of motorcycles in these cities (and arguably others) constitutes a dynamic and evolving landscape that requires more careful conceptual and empirical attention.