Conceptualising urban informality in the platform economy: regulation, legitimisation, value extraction and collective agency

Abstract

Cities in the global South are rapidly digitalising, with digital platforms already becoming well established and creating new disruptions as well as opportunities. Much of these cities’ urban life is still shaped by informality, yet there has been little conceptualisation around the intersection of platforms and informality. To develop our understanding of urban informality in the platform age, this paper situates Southern urbanism at this interface and explores the dynamics it creates. Employing a narrative literature review, it synthesises the two domains (i.e. platforms and informality) and draws out four themes that cut across their intersections: regulation, legitimisation, value extraction and collective agency. To this end, it provides a more in-depth conceptual grounding that guides us into the contemporary platformising urban landscape of the global South.