Module GEOG30R7: PLATFORM GEOGRAPHIES

Department: Geography

GEOG30R7: PLATFORM GEOGRAPHIES

Prerequisites

• Any Level 2 BA Geography module

Corequisites

• None

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None

Aims

• This module will:
• Introduce students to contemporary theoretical approaches in digital geographies through the case of platform technologies
• Theorize the emergence the platform economy and consider its social, spatial, and technological origins and consequences from a global perspective
• Critically evaluate academic and policy debates surrounding how digital platforms are, or are not, changing various social and economic relationships

Content

• From Uber’s reorganization of transportation systems in cities, to the rapid development of Amazon warehouses and hydro-powered Bitcoin mining operations in the hinterlands, digital platforms are increasingly transforming space and society across the global North and South. While proponents argue that these changes will drive economic development and enable easier, greener, and more flexible market exchange, critics contend that they are leading to mass surveillance, labour exploitation, environmental degradation, displacement, and strain on public resources.
• Drawing on literature in digital geographies, science and technology studies (STS), and queer, Black, and feminist code studies, this module evaluates these competing claims through examination of emergent ‘platform geographies’. Topics may include:
• Transportation and mobility
• Land markets and rent
• E-commerce and critical logistics
• Racialization and algorithmic bias
• FinTech and financial inclusion
• Gig work and platform cooperativism
• Cryptocurrency and data ecologies
• Glitch politics and contestation
• Super-apps and monopoly

Learning Outcomes

• On successful completion of the module students will be able to:
• Recognize digital technologies as both social and spatial phenomena
• Demonstrate advanced level understanding of transforming platform geographies across the globe
• Navigate public debates that depict platform technologies as either a utopian panacea or dystopian threat

• On successful completion of the module students will be able to:
• Evaluate the merits of competing claims about the social, environmental, and economic consequences of platform technologies
• Apply theories from digital geographies to independently understand new technologies and current events
• Critically examine their own everyday digital practices, and how those are implicated within broader social systems and power relations

• Demonstrate the ability to develop an argument through clear written communication
• Demonstrate the ability to synthesise and integrate knowledge and apply it to contemporary issues
• Demonstrate a capacity to reflect critically and creatively on the relations between module concepts and a range of real world problems and issues.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• Lectures in the first three weeks will introduce the sub-field of digital geographies and trace the conditions of possibility for the platform economy. Later lectures will theorize how platform technologies are reorganizing key geographies, processes, and relationships such as: urbanization, coloniality, governance, marketization, nature-society, and political contestation.
• After the first three weeks, the module will use paired lectures and workshops to delve into three in-depth case studies of platform technologies. Each lecture will introduce a key process (e.g. urbanization) and review associated theoretical frameworks in digital geographies. Each paired workshop will then explore its ‘platformization’ by zooming in on one theme or topic (e.g. land markets and rent). Workshops will ask students to take the lead on introducing the materials and develop their own analyses through active learning activities including small-group discussion, debate, free-writes, and ‘flash-research’ group work.
• The summative assessment (essay) requires students to critically analyse a digital platform of their choice, using analytical frameworks and concepts from the module. Students will develop a nuanced argument regarding the societal consequences of their platform’s operations, and consider the ability of a geographical approach to deepen analysis of the issues.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

Students will lead group discussions on relevant papers and will receive oral staff and peer feedback on their understanding during workshops.

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University