From workplaces to urban orders in the gig economy: the spatial practices of app-based delivery workers

Purpose This article addresses the problem of autonomy and flexibility in platformised work from the experience of app-based delivery workers and their labor conditions, but by its embeddedness in the urban space. It contributes to the discussion of the conditions, meanings and spatiotemporalities of app-based delivery work by focusing on workplaces built mainly in central areas of Mexico City. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative research design was implemented with four groups of app-based delivery workers in Mexico City. The analysis is based on observations, bicycle and motorcycle shadowings, and semistructural interviews with 34 four app-based delivery workers that work in central areas of the city. Findings For synthetic and analytical purposes, the process of constructing a workplace is identified based on the entanglement between urban structure, labor conditions and meanings of work that builds it with a territorial configuration aimed to reject other app-based delivery workers. Originality/value The article presents an analysis of the practices and implications of building a workplace under the intertwining of gig economy and urban fragmentation. It starts with the study of the production of spatiotemporalities in app-based delivery work and moves forward by considering these workers as dwellers of the public space of the city.