Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Geographic Research of the Platform Economy: Existing and Potential Approaches

  • SPATIAL FEATURES OF SECTORAL DEVELOPMENT
  • Published:
Regional Research of Russia Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The development of the platform economy has attracted the attention of geographers; in the last decade, publications have appeared that analyze certain aspects of this phenomenon. However, until recently there has been a lack of common understanding regarding the priorities and structure of the geographic research. Therefore, this study aims to summarize the available geographic research of the platform economy and to define the contours of future studies. The eight largest bibliographic databases have been searched using a special semantic search algorithm. More than 70 journal papers on the relevant topic have been found. A distribution of the papers by year and country is given. An analysis of the papers has shown that the existing diversity of the geographic research can be reduced to three maturing (comparative geographic, socio–geographic, and gravitational) and two germinating (spatial diffusion and constructive territorial) approaches. For each of these approaches, a list of the key problem areas is given, their solution defines the vectors of further research. Based on the existing publications and considering the capabilities of geographic research, it is argued that economic geographical, geosystemic, and regional approaches are also likely to appear in the future.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 3.

Similar content being viewed by others

REFERENCES

  1. Agrawal, A.K., Catalini, C., and Goldfarb, A., The geography of crowdfunding, NET Institute Working Paper no. 10-08, Toronto: University of Toronto, 2010.

  2. Alaev, E.B., Sotsial’no-ekonomicheskaya geografiya: Ponyatiino-terminologicheskii slovar’ (Socioeconomic Geography: Conceptual and Terminological Dictionary), Moscow: Mysl’, 1983.

  3. Anderson, J.E., A theoretical foundation for the gravity equation, Am. Econ. Rev., 1979, vol. 69, no. 1, pp. 106–116.

  4. Anderson, J.E., The gravity model, Annu. Rev. Econ., 2011, vol. 3, no. (1), pp. 133–160.

  5. Ansell, C. and Miura, S., Can the power of platforms be harnessed for governance?, Publ. Administr., 2019, vol. 98, no. 1, pp. 261–276.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Baranskii, N.N., Izbrannye trudy. Stanovlenie ekonomicheskoi geografii (Selected Works. The Formation of Economic Geography), Moscow: Mysl’, 1980.

  7. Belleflamme, P., Omrani, N., and Peitz, M., The economics of crowdfunding platforms, Inf. Econ. Policy, 2015, vol. 33, pp. 11–28.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Blanutsa, V.I., Spatial diffusion of innovations: The sphere of uncertainty and the network model, Reg. Issled., 2015, no. 3, pp. 4–12.

  9. Blanutsa, V.I., Razvertyvanie informatsionno-kommunikatsionnoi seti kak geograficheskii protsess (na primere stanovleniya setevoi struktury sibirskoi pochty) (Deployment of an Information and Communication Network as a Geographical Process (On the Example of the Formation of the Network Structure of the Siberian Mail)), Moscow: INFRA-M, 2016.

  10. Blanutsa, V.I., Sotsial’no-ekonomicheskoe raionirovanie v epokhu bol’shikh dannykh (Socioeconomic Zoning in the Age of Big Data), Moscow: INFRA-M, 2018.

  11. Blanutsa, V.I., Digital economy of Siberia: Territorial platforms for clusters, Aktual. Probl. Ekon. Prava, 2019, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 1362–1374.

    Google Scholar 

  12. Blanutsa, V.I., Regional economic research using artificial intelligence algorithms: Status and prospects, Vestn. Zabaikal. Gos. Univ., 2020, vol. 26, no. 8, pp. 100–111.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Blanutsa, V.I. and Cherepanov, K.A., Regional information flows: Existing and new approaches to geographical study, Reg. Res. Russ., 2019, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 97–106.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Borowiak, C., Poverty in transit: Uber, TaxiCoops, and the struggle over Philadelphia’s transportation economy, Antipode, 2019, vol. 51, no. 4, pp. 1079–1100.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Bostrom, N., Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies, Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 2014.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Boutsioukis, G., Fasianos, A., and Petrohilos-Andrianos, Y., The spatial distribution of short-term rental listings in Greece: A regional graphic, Reg. Stud., Reg. Sci., 2019, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 455–459.

    Google Scholar 

  17. Breznitz, S.M. and Noonan, D.S., Crowdfunding in a not-so-flat world, J. Econ. Geogr., 2020, vol. 20, no. 4, pp. 1069–1092.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Buch, C.M., Kleinert, J., and Toubal, F., The distance puzzle: On the interpretation of the distance coefficient in gravity equations, Econ. Lett., 2004, vol. 83, no. 3, pp. 293–298.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Cennamo, C. and Santalo, J., Platform competition: Strategic trade-offs in platform markets, Strategic Manage. J., 2013, vol. 34, no. 11, pp. 1331–1350.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Coll, M.-H., Vandersmissen, M.-H., and Thériault, M., Modeling spatio-temporal diffusion of carsharing membership in Quebec City, J. Transp. Geogr., 2014, vol. 38, pp. 22–37.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Dejean, S., The role of distance and social networks in the geography of crowdfunding: Evidence from France, Reg. Stud., 2020, vol. 54, no. 3, pp. 329–339.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. De Marco, C., Di Minin, A., Marullo, C., and Nepelski, D., Digital Platform Innovation in European SMEs. An Analysis of SME Instrument Business Proposals and Case Studies, Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2019.

    Google Scholar 

  23. Domenech, A., Larpin, B., Schegg, R., and Scaglione, M., Disentangling the geographical logic of Airbnb in Switzerland, Erdkunde, 2019, vol. 73, no. 4, pp. 245–258.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Duch-Brown, N. and Rossetti, F., Digital platforms across the European regional energy markets, Energy Policy, 2020, vol. 144, pp. 1–11.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Evans, D.S. and Schmalensee, R., The antitrust analysis of multi-sided platform business, NBER working paper 18783, Cambridge: National Bureau of Economic Research, 2013.

  26. Evans, D.S. and Schmalensee, R., Matchmakers: The Economics of Multisided Platforms, Boston: Harvard Business Review, 2016.

    Google Scholar 

  27. Evens, T. and Donders, K., Platform Power and Policy in Transforming Television Markets, Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018, p. 304.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  28. Gallemore, C., Nielsen, K.R., and Jespersen, K., The uneven geography of crowdfunding success: Spatial capital on Indiegogo, Environ. Plann. A, 2019, vol. 51, no. 6, pp. 1389–1406.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Gerasimov, I.P., Sovetskaya konstruktivnaya geografiya: zadachi, podkhody, rezul’taty (Soviet Constructive Geography: Tasks, Approaches, Results), Moscow: Nauka, 1976.

  30. Graham, M., Regulate, replicate, and resist – the conjunctural geographies of platform urbanism, Urban Geogr., 2020, vol. 41, no. 3, pp. 453–457.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Greenberg, D. and Rogerson, J.M., Accommodation business travelers: The organization and spaces of serviced apartments in Cape Town, South Africa, Bull. Geogr., Socio-Econ. Ser., 2018, vol. 42, pp. 83–97.

    Google Scholar 

  32. Gregory, K. and Maldonado, M.P., Delivering Edinburgh: uncovering the digital geography of platform labour in the city, Inf., Commun. Soc., 2020, vol. 23, no. 8, pp. 1187–1202.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Guttentag, D., Progress on Airbnb: A literature review, J. Hospitality Tourism Technol., 2019, vol. 10, no. 4, pp. 814–844.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Haberly, D., MacDonald-Korth, D., Urban, M., and Wójcik, D., Asset management as a digital platform industry: A global financial network perspective, Geoforum, 2019, vol. 106, pp. 167–181.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Hägerstrand, T., Innovation Diffusion as a Spatial Process, postscript and translation by Pred, A., Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1967.

  36. Harmaakorpi, V., Regional development platform method (RDPM) as a tool for regional innovation policy, Eur. Plann. Stud., 2006, vol. 14, pp. 1085–1114.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Karlsson, C. and Olsson, M., The identification of functional regions: Theory, methods, and applications, Ann. Reg. Sci., 2006, vol. 40, no. 1, pp. 1–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Katta, S., Badger, A., Graham, M., Howson, K., Ustek-Spilda, F., and Bertolini, A., (Dis)embeddedness and (de)commodification: COVID-19, Uber and the unraveling logics of the gig economy, Dialogues Hum. Geogr., 2020, vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 203–207.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. Katz, M.L. and Shapiro, C., Network externalities, competition, and compatibility, Am. Econ. Rev., 1985, vol. 75, no. 3, pp. 424–440.

    Google Scholar 

  40. Kenney, M. and Zysman, J., The rise of the platform econ-omy, Issues Sci. Technol., 2016, vol. 32, no. 2, pp. 61–69.

    Google Scholar 

  41. Kenney, M. and Zysman, J., The platform economy: Restructuring the space of capitalist accumulation, Cambridge J. Reg., Econ. Soc., 2020, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 55–76.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  42. Kolosovskii, N.N., Teoriya ekonomicheskogo raionirovaniya (Economic Zoning Theory), Moscow: Mysl’, 1969.

  43. Kuebart, A. and Ibert, O., Beyond territorial conception of entrepreneurial ecosystems: The dynamic spatiality of knowledge brokering in seed accelerators, Z. Wirtschaftsgeogr. 2019, vol. 63, nos. 2–4, pp. 118–133.

  44. Lee, A., Mackenzie, A., Smith, G.J.D., and Box, P., Mapping platform urbanism: Charting the nuance of the platform pivot, Urban Plann., 2020, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 116–128.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  45. Leigh, N.G. and Kraft, B.R., Emerging robotic regions in the United States: insights for regional economic evolution, Reg. Stud., 2018, vol. 52, no. 6, pp. 804–815.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  46. Letaief, K.B., Chen, W., Shi, Y., Zhang, J., and Zhang, Y.-J.A., The roadmap to 6G: AI empowered wireless networks, IEEE Communic. Mag., 2019, vol. 57, no. 8, pp. 84–90.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  47. Lima, V., Towards an understanding of the regional impact of Airbnb in Ireland, Reg. Stud., Reg. Sci., 2019, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 78–91.

    Google Scholar 

  48. Markusen, A., Sticky places in slippery space: A typology of industrial districts, Econ. Geogr., 1996, vol. 72, no. 3, pp. 293–313.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  49. McIntyre, D.P. and Srinivasan, A., Networks, platforms, and strategy: Emerging views and next steps, Strategic Manage. J., 2017, vol. 38, no. 1, pp. 141–160.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  50. Meelen, T., Frenken, K., and Hobrink, S., Weak spots for car-sharing in the Netherlands? The geography of socio-technical regimes and the adoption of niche innovations, Energy Res. Soc. Sci., 2019, vol. 52, pp. 132–143.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  51. Nieborg, D.B. and Poell, T., The platformization of cultural production: Theorizing the contingent cultural commodity, New Media Soc., 2018, vol. 20, no. 11, pp. 4275–4292.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  52. Ours to Hack and to Own: The Rise of Platform Cooperativism, A New Vision for the Future of Work and a Fairer Internet, Scholz, T. and Schneider, N., Eds., New York: OR Books, 2016.

    Google Scholar 

  53. Parker, G.G., van Alstyne, M.W., and Choudary, S.P., Platform Revolution: How Networked Markets Are Transforming the Economy and How to Make Them Work for You, New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2016.

    Google Scholar 

  54. Qian, H., Knowledge-based regional economic development: a synthetic review of knowledge spillovers, entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial ecosystems, Econ. Dev. Q., 2018, vol. 32, no. 2, pp. 163–176.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  55. Richardson, L., Coordinating the city: Platforms as flexible spatial arrangements, Urban Geogr., 2020a, 2 nd ed., vol. 41, no. 3 pp. 458–461.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  56. Richardson, L. Digital and platform economies, in International Encyclopedia of Human Geography., Kobayashi, A., Ed., London: Elsevier, 2020b, 2 nd ed., pp. 317–321.

  57. Rochet, J.-C. and Tirole, J., Platform competition in two-sided markets, J. Eur. Econ. Assoc., 2003, vol. 1, no. 4, pp. 990–1029.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  58. Roelofsen, M., Exploring the socio-spatial inequalities of Airbnb in Sofia, Bulgaria, Erdkunde, 2018, vol. 72, no. 4, pp. 313–327.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  59. Rossi, A. and Vismara, S., What do crowdfunding platform do? A comparison between investment-based platforms in Europe, Euras. Bus. Rev., 2018, vol. 8, pp. 93–118.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  60. Sadowski, J., Cyberspace and cityscapes: On the emergence of platform urbanism, Urban Geogr., 2020a, vol. 41, no. 3, pp. 448–452.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  61. Sadowski, J., The internet of landlords: Digital platforms and new mechanism of rentier capitalism, Antipode, 2020b, vol. 52, no. 2, pp. 562–580.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  62. Schilling, M.A., Technology success and failure in winner-take-all markets: The impact of learning orientation, timing, and network externalities, Acad. Manage. J., 2002, vol. 45, no. 2, pp. 387–398.

    Google Scholar 

  63. Schwarz, J.A., Platform logic: An interdisciplinary approach to the platform-based economy, Policy Internet, 2017, vol. 9, no. 4, pp. 374–394.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  64. Sochava, V.B., Vvedenie v uchenie o geosistemakh (Introduction to the Study of Geosystems), Novosibirsk: Nauka, 1978.

  65. Sotsial’no-ekonomicheskaya geografiya: ponyatiya i terminy. Slovar’-spravochnik (Socioeconomic Geography: Concepts and Terms. Dictionary and Reference Book), Gorkin, A.P, Ed., Smolensk: Oikumena, 2013.

  66. Spangler, I., Hidden value in the platform’s platform: Airb-nb, displacement and the un-homing spatialities of emotional labour, Trans. Inst. Br. Geogr., 2020, vol. 45, no. 3, pp. 575–588.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  67. Srnicek, N., Platform Capitalism, Cambridge: Polity, 2017.

    Google Scholar 

  68. Stallkamp, M. and Schotter, A.P.J., Platforms without borders? The international strategies of digital platform firms, Global Strategy J., 2021, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 58–80.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  69. Sutherland, W. and Jarrahi, M.H., The sharing economy and digital platforms: A review and research agenda, Int. J. Inf. Manage., 2018, vol. 43, pp. 328–341.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  70. Tiwana, A., Platform Ecosystems: Aligning Architecture, Governance, and Strategy, Waltham: Morgan Kaufmann, 2014.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  71. Tobler, W., A computer movie simulating urban growth in the Detroit region, Econ. Geogr., 1970, vol. 46, no. 2, pp. 234–240.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  72. Van Dijck, J., Poell, T., and de Waal, M., The Platform Society: Public Values in a Connective World, Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 2018.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  73. Wentrup, R., Nakamura, H.R., and Strom, P., Uberization in Paris – The issue of trust between a digital platform and digital workers, Crit. Persp. Int. Bus., 2019, vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 20–41.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  74. Wood, A.J., Graham, M., Lehdonvirta, V., and Hjorth, I., Good gig, bad gig: Autonomy and algorithmic control in the global gig economy, Work, Employ Soc., 2019, vol. 33, no. 1, pp. 56–75.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  75. Xu, F., Hu, M., La, L., Wang, J., and Huang, C., The influence of neighborhood environment on Airbnb: A geographically weighed regression analysis, Tourism Geogr., 2019, vol. 22, no. 1, pp. 192–209.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  76. Yang, L. and Dong, S., Rebate strategy to stimulate online customer reviews, Int. J. Prod. Econ., 2018, vol. 204, pp. 99–107.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

This work was supported by the state assignment program, project no. АААА-А21-121012190018-2.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sochava Institute of Geography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, 664033, Irkutsk, Russia

    V. I. Blanutsa

Authors
  1. V. I. Blanutsa
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to V. I. Blanutsa.

Ethics declarations

The author declares that he has no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Translated by A. Kobkova

The paper was revised and supplemented by the author for publication in the journal Regional Research of Russia.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Blanutsa, V.I. Geographic Research of the Platform Economy: Existing and Potential Approaches. Reg. Res. Russ. 12, 133–142 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1134/S2079970522020113

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S2079970522020113

Keywords:

Search

Navigation