Interfacing the space of flows and the space of places in the platform society. Ten years of Airbnb in Florence

Titolo Rivista RIVISTA GEOGRAFICA ITALIANA
Autori/Curatori Antonello Romano, Cristina Capineri, Tiziano Bonini
Anno di pubblicazione 2023 Fascicolo 2023/2
Lingua Inglese Numero pagine 22 P. 61-82 Dimensione file 0 KB
DOI 10.3280/rgioa2-2023oa15923
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Drawing on Manuel Castells’ inspiring concepts of space of flows and space of places (1996), we argue that digital platforms play the key role of an interface, a medium, between the space of places and the space of flows. Indeed, digital platforms can be considered as network orchestrators, managing flows of data and information which are produced by users and distributed globally by means of the platform itself. In order to demonstrate how the interfacing process operates on urban space, we investigate the Airbnb platform by applying Castells’ ideas. The contribution develops a spatio-temporal analysis of 12,126 georeferenced listings (accommodations) and 651,515 reviews left by Airbnb users on the platform from 2010 to 2019 in Florence (Italy). Listings and reviews act as an echo chamber for the space of flows and forge specific places that accommodate the requirements of the Airbnb community. Furthermore, the progressive transformation of private apartments into nodes of the global tourism network creates an increasingly fragmented spatial array combining globally connected portions of the city and geographically contiguous but unconnected spaces. Such a process is geographically uneven and reproduces well-known patterns of value concentration where symbols create a virtually-forged urban reality, destined to mimic the place projected in the platform.

Questo articolo prende in prestito i concetti di spazio dei flussi e spazio dei luoghi avanzati da Castells (1996) per sostenere che le piattaforme digitali svolgono il ruolo chiave di interfaccia, di medium, tra lo spazio dei luoghi e lo spazio dei flussi. Le piattaforme digitali, come Airbnb, possono infatti essere considerate come ‘orchestratori di reti’ che gestiscono i flussi di dati e informazioni prodotti dagli utenti (ospiti e Host) attraverso la piattaforma stessa. Per dimostrare come la combinazione di reti e luoghi impatti lo spazio urbano, abbiamo analizzato Airbnb come “un’interfaccia tra comunicazione elettronica e interazione fisica” e dimostrato l’utilità delle idee di Castells per esplorare l’impatto della piattaforma alla scala intra-urbana. Il contributo sviluppa un’analisi spazio-temporale di 12.126 annunci georeferenziati e 651.515 recensioni lasciate dagli utenti di Airbnb sulla piattaforma dal 2010 al 2019 a Firenze (Italia). In questo contesto, le recensioni agiscono come una camera d’eco per lo spazio dei flussi, forgiando alcune aree specifiche della città che soddisfano i requisiti della comunità Airbnb. Inoltre, la progressiva trasformazione di appartamenti privati in nodi della rete turistica globale crea una divisione spaziale sempre più frammentata tra porzioni di città connesse a livello globale e altri spazi geograficamente contigui ma non connessi. Tale processo è geograficamente disomogeneo e riproduce modelli ben noti di concentrazione del valore, in cui i simboli creano una realtà urbana virtualmente contraffatta, destinata ad imitare il luogo proiettato nella piattaforma.

Parole chiave:; spazio dei flussi, spazio dei luoghi, piattaforma digitale, società delle piattaforme, Airbnb, Firenze.

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Antonello Romano, Cristina Capineri, Tiziano Bonini , Interfacing the space of flows and the space of places in the platform society. Ten years of Airbnb in Florence in "RIVISTA GEOGRAFICA ITALIANA" 2/2023, pp 61-82, DOI: 10.3280/rgioa2-2023oa15923