The end of location theory? Some implications of micro-work, work trajectories and gig- work for conceptualizing the urban space economy

Abstract

In this paper we conceptualise the growing challenge faced by economic geographers and urban planners as they explore where economic activity actually occurs – where it is located – within cities. We suggest that economic activity relates to urban space by way of trajectories (punctuated by specific places) rather than by way of location. Such an approach offers a comprehensive understanding not only of the economic but also of the social realities of urban labour practices in the 21st century and the complex interplay between locations of work and leisure. As illustration, we present exploratory results that examine the work geography of some Montreal childcare workers. Whilst their work trajectories seem to have become more complex with the advent of mobile communication technology, child-caring has always required mobility and has never occurred in a single location: the convention that economic activity takes place at particular locations, although increasingly divorced from actual practice, has only ever described certain types of economic activity.