Handbook of Platform Urbanism
Will be published approx. on 2. December 2025
Book
Hardback
362 pages
978-1-0353-1375-4 (ISBN)
Description
This innovative Handbook provides an in-depth exploration of how digital platforms are reshaping cities worldwide. It presents a comprehensive analysis of data-driven urban life, evaluating how platforms including Uber, Airbnb and Google Maps mediate public services, economic activities and social interactions.
Leading experts highlight the opportunities and challenges of urban platformisation, examining its economic, political and spatial implications through multidisciplinary insights. Chapters investigate key themes spanning governance, inequality, regulation and digital labour, drawing on a range of global case studies to critically assess how platform urbanism is redefining power structures and access to essential services. The Handbook showcases the influence of digital platforms on cities including Milan, Montreal and Sao Paulo, focussing on both Big Tech and community-driven alternatives. Ultimately, contributors use diverse methodologies to assess the socio-economic impact of these technologies in cities, analysing the dominance of major platforms alongside local initiatives.
The Handbook of Platform Urbanism serves as a crucial reference for scholars and studies of urban studies, political economy, media studies and human and economic geography. Policymakers and practitioners in city governance and urban planning will also benefit from its valuable insights.
Leading experts highlight the opportunities and challenges of urban platformisation, examining its economic, political and spatial implications through multidisciplinary insights. Chapters investigate key themes spanning governance, inequality, regulation and digital labour, drawing on a range of global case studies to critically assess how platform urbanism is redefining power structures and access to essential services. The Handbook showcases the influence of digital platforms on cities including Milan, Montreal and Sao Paulo, focussing on both Big Tech and community-driven alternatives. Ultimately, contributors use diverse methodologies to assess the socio-economic impact of these technologies in cities, analysing the dominance of major platforms alongside local initiatives.
The Handbook of Platform Urbanism serves as a crucial reference for scholars and studies of urban studies, political economy, media studies and human and economic geography. Policymakers and practitioners in city governance and urban planning will also benefit from its valuable insights.
Reviews / Votes
'This book is an essential primer for platform urbanism providing a comprehensive overview of how platformed apps are reshaping the organisation and operation of city services across the globe. Written by leading experts, the chapters provide illuminating conceptual and empirical insights into how platforms are reconfiguring urban economics, raising concerns regarding governance, citizenship and inequalities, and remediating community and place-making.' -- Rob Kitchin, Maynooth University, Ireland 'This is an indispensable volume for everyone seeking to learn more about the variegated ways in which digital platforms have become entangled with cities and urban life. Wide in their scope, diverse in their methodologies, and deeply researched, the contributions in this Handbook reflect a field in the making while also setting new research agendas. Highly recommended!' -- Niels van Doorn, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands 'This book is an essential primer for platform urbanism providing a comprehensive overview of how platformed apps are reshaping the organisation and operation of city services across the globe. Written by leading experts, the chapters provide illuminating conceptual and empirical insights into how platforms are reconfiguring urban economics, raising concerns regarding governance, citizenship and inequalities, and remediating community and place-making.' -- Rob Kitchin, Maynooth University, Ireland 'An indispensable roadmap to the platform city-wide-ranging, critical, and hopeful. This Handbook shows how digital platforms are reshaping urban life and what we can do about it.' -- Mark Graham, University of Oxford, UKMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Cheltenham
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 244 mm
Width: 169 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-0353-1375-4 (9781035313754)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Edited by Annelien Smets, Professor of Communication Sciences and Pieter Ballon, Professor of Communication Sciences, imec-SMIT, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium
Content
Contents
PART I INTRODUCTION
1 Introduction to the Handbook of Platform Urbanism 2
Pieter Ballon and Annelien Smets
2 Platform urbanism: ideology, capitalism and inequalities 17
Federico Caprotti
3 The platform playbook: platforms as powerful organisational models for
future cities 29
Sarah Barns
PART II URBAN PLATFORM ECONOMICS
4 Platform sabotage 45
Aaron Shapiro
5 The urban political economy of attention: the case of Sao Paulo's Centro 60
Petter Toernberg
6 Platform-based urban entrepreneurialism in China: the case of Zibo, the
city of barbecue 73
Han Chu and Robert Hassink
7 Crowdfunding and value-sharing: the case of saving the Gartenbaukino
cinema 85
Anders Rykkja and Carolina Dalla Chiesa
8 Subsidising network effects: the case of carpooling in France 97
Antoine Verhulst
PART III GOVERNANCE AND REGULATION IN PLATFORM URBANISM
9 Public-Private Partnerships in smart cities and the privatisation of
citizenship 114
Barbara Lazarotto and Paul De Hert
10 How law enables platform urbanism: the case of municipal power and
platform regulation 127
Beatriz Botero Arcila
11 Institutional strategies in the sharing economy: the case of ride-hailing and
hospitality lodging in Brussels 142
Michael Distelmans and Ilse Scheerlinck
12 AI Localism: the emergence of AI governance at the local level 156
Sara Marcucci, Natalia Gonzalez Alarcon and Stefaan Verhulst
PART IV MEDIATED SPATIALITY AND URBAN LIFE
13 Representation of space in Google Maps: the case of Poznan 173
Maciej Glowczynski
14 Urban assemblages through digital platforms: the case of Istanbul 187
Fatih Eren
15 Methods in platform urbanism: everyday platform urbanism and
ethnography 200
Johan Vaide
PART V PLATFORM COMMUNITIES
16 Platform commoning as a path to social justice in the datafied city 211
Laura Temmerman and Dorottya Varga
17 Platform cooperatives: the case of Gebiedonline 225
Filipe Mello Rose
18 Urban platforms as drivers of socio-environmental transformations: the
case of civic monitoring and civic assemblies around Milan 240
Anna Berti Suman
19 Dual spatiality in platform communities: the case of Drivers Club Bogota 255
Luis Hernando Lozano Paredes and Gabriela Quintana Vigiola
20 Methods in platform urbanism: participatory approaches and citizen
science 269
Liubov Tupikina, Zahra Farook and Muki Haklay
PART VI CITIZENSHIP AND INEQUALITIES
21 Platformisation, technical citizenship and making space for rights in the
city 284
Aphra Kerr and Jo Pierson
22 Soft masculinities: the case of food delivery platform workers in Helsinki 297
Yu-Shan Tseng
23 Contested data: the case of the gentrifying neighbourhood of Parc-
Extension, Montreal 306
Yaya Baumann, Alessandra Renzi, Sepideh Shahamati and Tamara Vukov
24 Do smart cities need smart contracts? Community Benefits Agreements as
blockchain-enabled accountability frameworks 320
Ushnish Sengupta
PART I INTRODUCTION
1 Introduction to the Handbook of Platform Urbanism 2
Pieter Ballon and Annelien Smets
2 Platform urbanism: ideology, capitalism and inequalities 17
Federico Caprotti
3 The platform playbook: platforms as powerful organisational models for
future cities 29
Sarah Barns
PART II URBAN PLATFORM ECONOMICS
4 Platform sabotage 45
Aaron Shapiro
5 The urban political economy of attention: the case of Sao Paulo's Centro 60
Petter Toernberg
6 Platform-based urban entrepreneurialism in China: the case of Zibo, the
city of barbecue 73
Han Chu and Robert Hassink
7 Crowdfunding and value-sharing: the case of saving the Gartenbaukino
cinema 85
Anders Rykkja and Carolina Dalla Chiesa
8 Subsidising network effects: the case of carpooling in France 97
Antoine Verhulst
PART III GOVERNANCE AND REGULATION IN PLATFORM URBANISM
9 Public-Private Partnerships in smart cities and the privatisation of
citizenship 114
Barbara Lazarotto and Paul De Hert
10 How law enables platform urbanism: the case of municipal power and
platform regulation 127
Beatriz Botero Arcila
11 Institutional strategies in the sharing economy: the case of ride-hailing and
hospitality lodging in Brussels 142
Michael Distelmans and Ilse Scheerlinck
12 AI Localism: the emergence of AI governance at the local level 156
Sara Marcucci, Natalia Gonzalez Alarcon and Stefaan Verhulst
PART IV MEDIATED SPATIALITY AND URBAN LIFE
13 Representation of space in Google Maps: the case of Poznan 173
Maciej Glowczynski
14 Urban assemblages through digital platforms: the case of Istanbul 187
Fatih Eren
15 Methods in platform urbanism: everyday platform urbanism and
ethnography 200
Johan Vaide
PART V PLATFORM COMMUNITIES
16 Platform commoning as a path to social justice in the datafied city 211
Laura Temmerman and Dorottya Varga
17 Platform cooperatives: the case of Gebiedonline 225
Filipe Mello Rose
18 Urban platforms as drivers of socio-environmental transformations: the
case of civic monitoring and civic assemblies around Milan 240
Anna Berti Suman
19 Dual spatiality in platform communities: the case of Drivers Club Bogota 255
Luis Hernando Lozano Paredes and Gabriela Quintana Vigiola
20 Methods in platform urbanism: participatory approaches and citizen
science 269
Liubov Tupikina, Zahra Farook and Muki Haklay
PART VI CITIZENSHIP AND INEQUALITIES
21 Platformisation, technical citizenship and making space for rights in the
city 284
Aphra Kerr and Jo Pierson
22 Soft masculinities: the case of food delivery platform workers in Helsinki 297
Yu-Shan Tseng
23 Contested data: the case of the gentrifying neighbourhood of Parc-
Extension, Montreal 306
Yaya Baumann, Alessandra Renzi, Sepideh Shahamati and Tamara Vukov
24 Do smart cities need smart contracts? Community Benefits Agreements as
blockchain-enabled accountability frameworks 320
Ushnish Sengupta