Crises, capital & the immigrant: the impact of platform-delivery work on the socio-spacial integration of immigrant riders in Barcelona

Abstract

In his 1872 polemic, "The Housing Question", German philosopher Friedrich Engels addressed the housing problems faced by the proletariat migrant workers in major industrial centres. He asserted that they could only be solved by first resolving their harsh working conditions in the capitalist mode of mass production. Presently, with transnational migrant flows to urban centres and the massacceptance of the Platform-economy, the housing question manifests itself in the case of the immigrants working in this digital contract-based market. While providing the immigrants with quick access into the work market of a host country, experts consider that the income insecurity and social isolation associated with such work might hinder their broader integration processes. This paper applies Engel’s perspective to the housing conditions of the immigrant platform delivery-riders in Barcelona, a city facing a rental-housing shortage. Through the means of existing studies and first-hand materials gathered through sampled interviews and interactive mapping exercises with the immigrant riders, the study aims to highlight the impacts that this mode of work integration has on their housing conditions and overall socio-spatial integration. The paper further reflects on the implications of the city’s housing policy and the ongoing COVID19 crisis on the immigrants’ integration.