Beyond the Algorithm: Riders as Geographical Actors in the City

This paper explores the spatial configuration patterns of riders or delivery drivers in the city of Seville, Spain, through a multidimensional analysis that simultaneously considers the demarcation of territories, the production of places, the articulation of scales, and the construction of networks. For this purpose, data from a qualitative study have been used, based on participant observation exercises, in-depth interviews, and participatory mapping. The results show that, despite the digital mediation of platforms, riders play an active role in the appropriation, delimitation, and signification of urban spaces. The city, as a workplace, is the subject of dispute regarding the forms of territorialisation of the platform companies and those projected by the riders as workers in the sector.