Platforms, race, and urban space: the multiplication of unevenness of migrant food couriers’ mobilities

Abstract

Food couriers navigating urban spaces are intrinsically linked with digital platforms, thus rendering their movements as ‘platform mobilities’ in which the movements of people and goods are managed by digital infrastructures. Existing research tends to examine how single digital platforms affect worker movements and lead to ‘unevenness’. Expanding this discussion, this article explores how the overlapping demands of various digital platforms compound social inequities, a phenomenon I term ‘multiplication of unevenness’. which predominantly affects migrant platform workers. Data from ‘bike-alongs’ and interviews with migrant food couriers in Norway reveal three key types of digital platforms that affect their movement: gig, mobility, and online-market platforms. These three types of platforms interacted to shape migrant food couriers’ mobilities in terms of their space, speed, surveillance, and sociality. Furthermore, rather than being passive subjects, workers also engaged in specific strategies to help mitigate the multiplication of unevenness in their work. The article argues that ‘platform mobilities’ intertwine with the evolution of platform urbanism and the rise of racial platform capitalism. The implications of this study suggest new directions for future research on the convergence of platform mobilities, migrant labor, and urban studies.