Establishing interdisciplinary research group "Cities, Work and Digital Platforms" at Tallinn University: insights on the coronavirus pandemic effects on digital labour platforms in Tallinn

The last decade has brought the rise of digital labour platforms for transportation, hospitality, microtasks or household services. Companies such as Uber, Wolt, Bolt, Lyft, Instacart, Deliveroo and many others have emerged in cities around the world, providing consumers with a range of services at the push of a button, while giving others short-term work opportunities. Building on the previous research projects about mobilities and digital platforms across the institutes at Tallinn University, this project proposal aims to establish an interdisciplinary research group "Cities, Work and Digital Platforms" bringing together researchers from three institutes at TLU and initiating cooperation with TalTech as well as other institutions. This project is stocktaking of research on platforms at Tallinn University and elsewhere in Estonia. However, in order to give the research group substance from the very beginning, the project starts with an investigation of the multitude of impacts the coronavirus pandemic has caused on the platform economies sector, asking: What short and long-term impact does the state of emergency caused by covid-19 have on supply and demand on platform based services, understandings of work, mobility practices and cities? While starting from the concrete research, the 2-year project is broader in scope and seeks via research seminars, academic papers and potential grant proposals establish longer-lasting effect.