Controlling space, controlling labour? Contested space in food delivery gig work

Abstract

The article investigates the control of the platform labour process by means of the digital production of space and how workers resist it. The segment of German platform-mediated food delivery is examined via qualitative interviews and auto-ethnography. It is shown how the platforms create different spaces to efficiently coordinate and control mobile delivery gig work. Steered by geolocalisation and geofencing, the couriers operate autonomously in spatial corridors defined by the platforms. The agency of the riders is thus limited, but they are occasionally able to undermine the platforms’ spatial control and reinterpret it. The article shows that space is a central but contested instrument for controlling labour.