Cities, Work and Digital Platforms

Project period: 1.09.2020 - 31.08.2022
Supported by Tallinn University Research Fund (TF4820)
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Have you done any work that is mediated via an online platform or mobile app? For instance, have you used a rideshare platform for driving (e.g. Bolt, Uber), delivered food or offered any other services via online platforms (e.g. GoWorkaBit, Wolt)? We are inviting you to participate in our study that explores the impact of COVID-19 on platform work in Estonia. You can access the survey here.

Platform work as a novel mode of labour in the 21st century has been steadily increasing in the past decade in Estonia as well as elsewhere in the world. While the digital transformation in Estonia carries with itself a connotation of speedy progress and development, social problems arising from digitalization are seldom highlighted in the public discourse. Moreover, the ongoing crises, including that of Covid-19 pandemic have further shed light on the problems related to platform work. 

The research group « Cities, Work and Digital Platforms »  aims to establish a network for knowledge sharing on platform work in Estonia, with strong international links, offering new interdisciplinary perspectives to tackle this novel issue. 

The ongoing Covid-19 related crises are a point of departure for such analysis, yet the project does not limit its temporal scope only to this period. Furthermore, the ensuing academic output fills a lacuna in global platform labour literature by focusing on the under-researched and overlapping spaces – including Estonia, the Baltics and the wider sphere of the post-socialist world. Approaches to questioning the effects of platform work on the Estonian labour market come from various backgrounds. In light of

• sociology of work, the project examines the social vulnerabilities accentuated by the unprecedented lockdown and its economic effects.
• urban geography, the project looks into the ways in which the patterns of mobility have changed with the increasing use of ridesharing platforms.
• digital transformation, the project deals with the penetration of information technologies into public and private spheres of life alike.

Our network intends to bring together various fields of research to platform work from diverse discipline (apart from urban geography, sociology and informatics, also law and transport studies etc).

In addition to incorporating new research on platform work, the group will organize seminars and workshops seeking to foster a fruitful conversation amongst various stakeholders.