Place-Making of a Non-Place: Delivery Executives in Mumbai

Maithili Manoj Sathe

Shilpa Ranade, Kamla Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute for Architecture and Environmental Studies.
(E-mail: shilparanade@gmail.com)
Maithili Sathe, Kamla Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute for Architecture and Environmental Studies.
(E-mail: maithilis14@gmail.com)

Abstract
India’s economy is going through a paradigm shift. From the traditional employee-employer
system, India is now heading towards a ‘gig economy’ culture. Freelancing and contract based
opportunities are much sought after by today’s youth. By 2020, 40% of India’s workforce is
predicted to be engaged in the gig culture. The gig culture demands a certain spatial condition of
workspace. The foundation of gig work was the denial of space in the first place. The thesis aims
at studying and questioning the routines and lifestyles of workers engaged in the gig economy and
proposing interventions to improve work culture and social engagement in the otherwise isolated
daily routines.

Keywords
Gig Economy; Delivery Executive; Non-place; Place-making;

INTRODUCTION
The traditional way of working has been long term salaried jobs where employees have to abide
by the working hours and are answerable to their employers. The more conventional way of
working as an employee is where the employer holds quite a bit of power. However, since the mid-
2000s, there has been a gradual shift in the way the work culture is practiced. The working class
is tending towards flexibility in professional lives as a basis for making work choices. A direct
result of this can be seen in the increasing trend of contract based and freelance opportunities in
the market. This evolved version of the economy is called Gig Culture. One of the major visible
communities of this new economy are the delivery executives. With the rise in platforms that offer
doorstep services, the delivery agents are an indisputable component of the supply chain. The
thesis looks at the workspaces (or the lack of it) of these delivery executives and aims at proposing
interventions throughout the city as an attempt humanize the routines and allow for opportunities
of place making.

DELIVERY SYSTEM IN THE CITY: THEN

Since the 1890s, there exists an efficient delivery system in the city that delivers tiffins from homes
to the work places and then back home again within the same day. The tiffins are delivered through
a carefully coded delivery system using colors symbols and numbers each representing area and
the address of the delivery location. The dabbawalas as a business function under Nutan Mumbai
Tiffin Box Suppliers Trust. All members of the dabbawala supply chain hail from the Varkari sect
in Maharashtra. The economic model of the system is quite interesting too. All members
irrespective of the position get a salary of Rs. 8000/- a month. The system will be analyzed further
in detail as part of the thesis

DELIVERY SYSTEMS IN THE CITY: NOW

New forms of business models have come into picture since technology has taken over. Emerging
e-commerce platforms have changed the way markets work. The major feature of this culture is
the make belief of flexibility in terms of the work hours as well as the pay. Capitalism in the market
has generated job opportunities that allow the employer to employ people but without the
responsibility and answerability to them. The job profile is such that its perceived as flexible but
the fine print has conditions that are questionable in the long run like lack of social security and
provident funds. This economy has allowed the retirement age to increase with minimal guarantee.
Currently, there are four major types of delivery applications –

Food delivery apps like Swiggy, Zomato, UberEats

Grocery Delivery apps like Grofers, BigBasket

Goods Delivery apps like Flipkart, Amazon, Myntra

Parcel Delivery apps like WeFast

This chapter explains the systems and the hierarchy of working in all these platforms and builds a
comparative between them. The systems and the motives of these business models can be crucial
to identify points where intervening might be possible. Though quite similar in nature, there are
differences in the supply chain for the above mentioned four platforms.
NON-PLACES/ MARC AUGE

Non-place is a space which discourages ‘settling-in’. It is a space - by the virtue of its ability to
funnel people to an actual place of experience. One cannot establish relations with others in a non-
place, instead it enhances the need to be isolated purely because of its physicality. Roads,
Highways, airports, stations etc. are non-places that we interact with on a daily basis. One loses
his sense of identity and the space is perceived partially. The profession of delivery executives is
spent entirely in a Non-place. Major part of their day is spent looking at maps and figuring out
directions with occasional interactions and the opportunity of establishing relations. The job itself
is quite taxing with long work hours spent in isolation and under stress of deadlines. The intent of
the thesis is to imagine how these non-places can become significant experiences to improve the
work culture of such people.

LIFE OF A DELIVERY EXECUTIVE

This chapter includes illustrative interviews and text about shortlisted characters working in this
profession. These characters however do not represent the community but are examples of a wide
array of communities represented in the chapter. Few shortlisted characters are:

-A part time delivery executive who is a student

-A newly married part time delivery executive

-A full time delivery executive who left his education

-A migrant electrician who now works as a Delivery executive for better pay

This chapter also maps the routes and zones in the city that these characters cover geographically
as illustrations. From this chapter, the program list is generated taking into consideration the
spectrum of people that inhabit this economic space.
PLACE-MAKING OF A NON-PLACE

The program list derived from the previous chapter can be overlayed into the geography of the
city. Narrowing down on probable sites to insert programs of two scales – One scale that is directly
related to the daily routine and another scale which becomes the allied functions related to the
profession which become hubs annexed to existing infrastructure in the city. These are the spaces
where the work culture has a chance to evolve and change and in turn become more worker
friendly.

Two scales of Programs

Routine Related (Neighborhood Level)

Hub (City Level)

References

[1]Marc Auge. Non-Places: introduction to the theory of Supermodernity, Verso, New York

[2] Gianpiero Petriglieri, Susan J. Ashford and Amy Wrzesniewski, Thriving in the Gig Economy, Harvard Business Review,
March April 2018

[3] Jacob Ningen, The Gig Economy vs. a traditional Economy, The Daily Campus, April 2018