Digital Platforms and the Reshaping of Urban Governance: The Evolution and Controversies of Algorithmic Governance Research

• Yilin Liu

  Author

• Shukun Yang

  Author

Algorithms, digital technologies, and the platform economy are tightly interconnected, which significantly changes everything. This paper, based on the premise of algorithmic governance, conducts a literature review and develops a three-part logical-analytical framework for the relationship between technology, platforms, and urban governance to analyze the reforms of the city governance due to platform intervention. Studies indicate that algorithms are more than just a tool characteristic but also a governance power with allocation of resources and shaping of rules. This embedding is a dynamic process of co-shaping between technology and institutions. The digital platforms, taking advantage of their strength in data and algorithms, have turned into quasi-governance organizations that engage in the sphere of public life and disrupt the old dichotomy of public and private power, creating a new tripartite of power. Simultaneously, they become part of the multidimensional innovation in urban governance in organization, authority, responsibility and space which creates a technical governance model based on the participation of platforms in the governance led by the Party and government. Moreover, the algorithmic governance is at a significant risk including the black box of algorithms, monopoly on data and online exclusion, which are predisposed to failure of regulation, over-empowerment of platforms, and social division.

• JAESD000025.pdf