Ecosystemic Resilience against Platformization

ongoing

"Digital platforms can massively erode the social environment in which they operate. For instance, short-term rental platforms (STRs) such as Airbnb dislodge vulnerable locals from their homes, escalate gentrification, and further fuel overtourism. Urban ecosystems develop organized responses to such disruptions ranging from local social movements to international city alliances, which take action to address extensive ‘platformization’. While the knowledge of the systemic effects of the ‘platformization’ of society is increasing, we still know little about the emergent resilient responses and the further effects they set in gear. This project titled ""Ecosystem Resilience against Platformization"" (ERAP) fills the gap by exploring and theorizing the efforts to counter the negative effects caused by STRs. ERAP employs case study methodology to zoom in on four EU cities where the negative effects of STRs are particularly visible, but the responses are vastly different. The fieldwork focuses especially on giving voice to and learning from underprivileged groups, e.g., tenants at risk of losing housing and housing movements. Complementing that is a longitudinal study tracking the efforts to establish EU-wide STR regulations. Leveraging the novel interdisciplinary field of digital ecology, ERAP will trace patterns of ecosystemic intensifications (e.g., the loss of affordable housing) and the emergent organised resilient responses. The analytical emphasis will be on the configurations of social actors mobilised in those processes, their tactics, the use of digital technology, and interconnections (e.g., alliances), with the goal of explaining the systemic dynamics of digital resilience. ERAP will contribute to the growing field of digital ecology and inform EU's policy on next-generation sustainable digitalisation, emphasising that the future of digitalization is negotiated among a broad range of stakeholders and across levels (from local to transnational)."