The Urban Digital Platform: Instances from Milan and Amsterdam
The article interrogates the concept of the urban in relation to digital platforms designed for citizen-based initiatives and local projects. We must broaden our scope as urban scholars to include this vast undergrowth of ‘other’ platforms and study how they intersect with the social and material fa...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Cogitatio
2020-12-01
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| Series: | Urban Planning |
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| Online Access: | https://www.cogitatiopress.com/urbanplanning/article/view/3417 |
| _version_ | 1819060448633290752 |
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| author | Letizia Chiappini |
| author_facet | Letizia Chiappini |
| author_sort | Letizia Chiappini |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The article interrogates the concept of the urban in relation to digital platforms designed for citizen-based initiatives and local projects. We must broaden our scope as urban scholars to include this vast undergrowth of ‘other’ platforms and study how they intersect with the social and material fabric of cities. Drawing from media and internet studies, urban sociology, and digital geography, I introduce the novel concept of ‘urban digital platform’ (UDP). I do so theoretically by using a digital geography body of work and the level of abstractness proposed by Bratton (2016), in ‘the stack,’ which are entry points to define any kind of digital platform. While global and for-profit digital platforms exploit density, size, and diversity, extracting resources into a data-driven form of governance and computational production of space. UDPs benefit from the urban as a front to (re)organise citizen-based, mutual-aid initiatives, and solidarity actions. The core of the UDP concept lies in the ambiguity of the role of the urban government, media literacy, and techno-biases as basic requirements for citizens to access the platform, its services, and goods. Those claims are supported by instances and empirical findings of two analysed platforms in Milan and Amsterdam. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-21T14:27:09Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-838d7241f7e54df387c33001f3378d4b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2183-7635 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-21T14:27:09Z |
| publishDate | 2020-12-01 |
| publisher | Cogitatio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Urban Planning |
| spelling | doaj.art-838d7241f7e54df387c33001f3378d4b2022-12-21T19:00:36ZengCogitatioUrban Planning2183-76352020-12-015427728810.17645/up.v5i4.34171780The Urban Digital Platform: Instances from Milan and AmsterdamLetizia Chiappini0Department of Geography, Urban Planning and International Development, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands / Department of Sociology and Social Research, University of Milan-Bicocca, ItalyThe article interrogates the concept of the urban in relation to digital platforms designed for citizen-based initiatives and local projects. We must broaden our scope as urban scholars to include this vast undergrowth of ‘other’ platforms and study how they intersect with the social and material fabric of cities. Drawing from media and internet studies, urban sociology, and digital geography, I introduce the novel concept of ‘urban digital platform’ (UDP). I do so theoretically by using a digital geography body of work and the level of abstractness proposed by Bratton (2016), in ‘the stack,’ which are entry points to define any kind of digital platform. While global and for-profit digital platforms exploit density, size, and diversity, extracting resources into a data-driven form of governance and computational production of space. UDPs benefit from the urban as a front to (re)organise citizen-based, mutual-aid initiatives, and solidarity actions. The core of the UDP concept lies in the ambiguity of the role of the urban government, media literacy, and techno-biases as basic requirements for citizens to access the platform, its services, and goods. Those claims are supported by instances and empirical findings of two analysed platforms in Milan and Amsterdam.https://www.cogitatiopress.com/urbanplanning/article/view/3417city layerdigital geographyplatform urbanismurban digital platform |
| spellingShingle | Letizia Chiappini The Urban Digital Platform: Instances from Milan and Amsterdam Urban Planning city layer digital geography platform urbanism urban digital platform |
| title | The Urban Digital Platform: Instances from Milan and Amsterdam |
| title_full | The Urban Digital Platform: Instances from Milan and Amsterdam |
| title_fullStr | The Urban Digital Platform: Instances from Milan and Amsterdam |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Urban Digital Platform: Instances from Milan and Amsterdam |
| title_short | The Urban Digital Platform: Instances from Milan and Amsterdam |
| title_sort | urban digital platform instances from milan and amsterdam |
| topic | city layer digital geography platform urbanism urban digital platform |
| url | https://www.cogitatiopress.com/urbanplanning/article/view/3417 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT letiziachiappini theurbandigitalplatforminstancesfrommilanandamsterdam AT letiziachiappini urbandigitalplatforminstancesfrommilanandamsterdam |