ABSTRACT
The growth of smart cities is promoting a rapid rise in on-demand work done through digital platforms such as Uber or Deliveroo. The algorithmically managed mobilities of gig workers heralds a new age of automatisation, flexibility and job opportunities. Conversely, critics decry the associated job insecurity, isolation and the lack of a social safety net. This chapter unpacks the changing nature of work under algorithmic management by focusing on the gig economy and the work of Deliveroo food couriers in London and Manchester. The chapter aims to contribute to knowledge towards the affective experiences and practices emerging from operating in ‘smart’ work environments and from being subjected to an algorithmic governance of labour. It does so in two distinctive ways. First, it unveils the power of metrics and how the time-related activities of working for Deliveroo makes the cyclists feel and what actions follow subsequently. Second, it considers how these feelings generate three trends in cyclist behaviour. The first is directed towards entrepreneurialism and is concerned with how metrics affectively lead to neoliberal rationalities. The second inspires solidarity and, to a lesser extent, activism and focuses on how these metrics are resisted and rejected. Finally, it leads to the development of cooperativist alternatives to mainstream platforms.
