Food Delivery Couriers and Their Interaction with Urban Public Space: A Case Study of a Typical “Takeaway Community” in the Wuhan Optics Valley Area

Abstract

Food delivery couriers are a new type of worker created in modern cities within the background of a sharing economy. As a form of gig worker, they shuttle through the streets and take charge of order distribution for digital labor platforms. Food delivery couriers use the atriums and streets of their community neighborhood as their places of work and rest, occupying the public spaces that belonged to the original residents. Additionally, this phenomenon sets off a chain reaction which not only creates conflicts with the activities and passage of residents, creating time–space interlinkages, but also exerts profound influence on the economic and population structure of the region. This study focuses on the time–space patterns of food delivery couriers in the Optics Valley youth city community in Wuhan city. Inspired by Tim Cresswell’s mobility theory, this study creates a conceptual framework to explain the time–space patterns of food delivery couriers, including the following aspects: motivation, experience, conduction, and efficiency. This study revealed the characteristics of food delivery couriers on the occupation level, the conflicts between food delivery couriers and other parties as invaders of public space, and their tactics. This study also makes some policy recommendations regarding the career status of couriers and provides a reference for research on the emergence of gig workers in the urban environment.