Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Berlin Institute for Empirical Integration and Migration Research (BIM)

Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin | BIM | Projects | Night Spaces: Migration, Culture and Integration in Europe (NITE)

Night Spaces: Migration, Culture and Integration in Europe (NITE)

How are night spaces imagined, produced, experienced and narrated by migrant communities in Europe? Using the example of the migrantized platform work, the subproject in Berlin investigates this question and examines how the Berlin night is transformed by platform work and which new social figures and work cultures it produces.


 


Background


 

The research project entitled "Night Spaces: migration, culture and integration in Europe" (NITE) is based in eight European cities, Aarhus, Amsterdam, Berlin, Cork, Galway, Lisbon, London and Rotterdam, and looks at how migrant communities in Europe experience the night from different perspectives.

The Berlin sub-project, led by Professor Manuela Bojadzijev and supported by Laura-Solmaz Litschel, who is doing her PhD on the topic, is using the example of migrantized platform workers and their nighttime work culture to examine how the Berlin night is being transformed by digitalization.

Berlin is rapidly becoming a so-called "smart city." As in many other urban centers across Europe, this transition has dramatic implications for the convergence of digital infrastructures with physical space. Understanding "digital transformation" is therefore fundamental when considering the blurring of day and night in relation to work culture research.

In new forms of algorithmically organized labor, we observe the emergence of new social figures: the platform worker:in, racing through the Smart City at a rapid pace, digitally mobilized for use in the so-called "last mile" of parcel and delivery services, but also active in the maintenance of the Smart City (such as escooter rechargers:in, so-called juicers:in). These platform workers, regulated and controlled by various digital platforms that aim to serve our changing consumption habits, aptly called the "convenience economy," are the focus of the research.

While the workers, make the magic of "delivery in 10 minutes" come true, they remain largely invisible in the narratives of the "Smart City". Using the example of digitally-organized platform work, the Berlin subproject investigates how the city night is transformed by the shift to the smart city and to what extent this "digitized night" promotes new practices of mobility.

It aims to tell the story of the smart city from a different perspective: Using the example of digitally-organized, often migrant, platform workers, who are particularly affected by how the Berlin night is transformed by digitalization.

 


Partner


 

Funded by the Humanities in the European Research Area (HERA) program and the the Federal Ministry of Education and Research.


In cooperation with:
  • Dr. Sara Brandellero (Leiden University)
  • Prof. Ben Campkin (University College London)
  • Dr. Derek Pardue (Aarhus University)
  • Dr. Ailbhe Kenny (University of Limerick)
 
Other team members:
  • Serger Kersbergen
  • Alessio Koliulis
  • Katherine Young
  • Kamila Krakowska
  • Lo Marshall
  • Jola Zych
  • Jordan Rowe
 
Non-scientific collaborator:
  • Mirik Milan
     
Project members from the department at BIM:
  • Manuela Bojadzijev
  • Laura-Solmaz Litschel
 
Student assistant:
  • Jola Zych

 


Related Links



Project Website:
https://www.nightspace.net

Latest Publication: http://www.urbanpamphleteer.org/reimagining-the-night

 



 

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