tech, labor, and cities

Hey there! I am a geographer who studies urban change. I think about how tech affects the way we live in cities, and especially how we govern them. I have a long record of designing and conducting qualitative research projects about the gig economy with students and peers. I enjoy sharing this work with a wide audience and strive to produce public scholarship.

A free copy of the introduction to my new book — DISRUPTING DC: THE RISE OF UBER AND THE FALL OF THE CITY (Princeton University Press, 2023) — is available here.

"A fantastic look at how and why Uber was able to conquer our cities." —LOS ANGELES TIMES

“Careful and powerful.” —Sandeep Vaheesan, THE AMERICAN PROSPECT

"Invaluable." —Malcolm Harris, author of PALO ALTO and KIDS THESE DAYS

“Vivid.” —Ruth Wilson Gilmore, author of ABOLITION GEOGRAPHY and GOLDEN GULAG

"Insightful … This accessible account will be of interest to urban policymakers and activists. "—PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

Winner of the PROSE Award in Cultural Anthropology and Sociology, Association of American Publishers

“Wonderful… nuanced… a vital work of scholarship.” —Davarian L. Baldwin, author of IN THE SHADOW OF THE IVORY TOWER

“A must-read.” —Juliet B. Schor, author of AFTER THE GIG

"Engagingly and accessibly written." —CHOICE REVIEWS

“This thought-provoking and well-researched book…offers an incredible array of evidence.” —ILR REVIEW

For more on the book, please see coverage in WAMU 88.5 FM, MarketWatch, Jacobin, and Bloomberg’s CityLab. I’ve also had the chance to discuss the book on several podcasts - The Majority Report, This Machine Kills, New Books Network, and Peoples & Things - and at live events, some of which are recorded below. An excerpt from the first chapter of our book was published in Dissent Magazine.

Currently, I’m a postdoctoral Fritz Fellow with Georgetown University’s new Tech & Society initiative and based in the Communication, Culture, and Technology Program. I am also an affiliated fellow with the Beeck Center for Social Impact and Innovation and the Georgetown Global Cities Initiative. In addition, I serve as a principal investigator for the University of Oxford’s Fairwork project. To learn more about this project, and our current recruitment process, please email me at kw731 (at) georgetown.edu.

I have published findings on data surveillance, labor rights, housing policy, and Washington, D.C. history in academic journals such as Urban Geography, Environment and Planning A, and Antipode. I have discussed the real-time impacts of my research in 100+ media stories in The Washington Post, NPR, ABC National News, CBC News, Bloomberg’s CityLab, CNN, and The San Francisco Chronicle, among others. My studies have also been cited by Axios, USA Today, Politico, and Business Insider.

A native of Canton, Ohio, I have lived in D.C. for 20 years. I received my PhD in Geography from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University.

book tour

publications

book

2023. Disrupting D.C.: The Rise of Uber and the Fall of the City. With Kafui Attoh and Declan Cullen. Princeton University Press.

***This book was recognized with a 2024 PROSE Award for best scholarly book in the category of “Cultural Anthropology and Sociology.”

peer-reviewed articles

2022. “Signs at work: New labor relations and structures of feeling in Washington, D.C.’s Covid Landscape.” With Galey Modan. Linguistic Landscape, 8(2/3): 281-298.

2021. With Kafui Attoh and Declan Cullen. “‘Automated Geography’ and ‘Geographies of Automation’: Three parables for thinking dialectically.” Space and Polity, 25(2): 167-183. doi: 10.1080/13562576.2021.1985855

2020. With Kafui Attoh and Declan Cullen. “Just-in-Place Labor: Driver Struggles in the Uber Workplace.” Environment and Planning A: Space and Economy, 53(2): 315-331. doi: 10.1177/0308518X20949266. ***This article was awarded the Ashby Prize.

2019. With Kafui Attoh and Declan Cullen. “‘We’re building their data:’ Labor, Alienation and Isolation in the Smart City.” Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 37(6): 1007-1024.

2019. “Policyfailing: The Quick Death of a Right to Shelter.” Urban Geography, 41(9): 1139-1157. doi: 10.1080/02723638.2019.1598733

2015. “A Housing Crisis, a Failed Law, and a Property Conflict: The U.S. Urban Speculation Tax.” Antipode: A Radical Geography Journal, 47(4): 1043-1061.

2014. “Policyfailing: The Case of Public Property Disposal in Washington, D.C.” ACME: An International Journal for Critical Geographies, 13(3): 473-494.

reports & shorter pieces

2023, October. “When Uber Comes to Town.” Dissent Magazine.

2023, August. “Uber’s View of Urban Life.” Ideas for Princeton University Press.

2023, May. Op-ed: “Tax Rideshare Companies on Downtown Trips, and Use the Revenue to Fund Better Public Transit.” 730DC.

2023, April. The Instant Delivery Workplace in D.C. A Georgetown University report.

2022. Book review of The Next Shift: The Fall of Industry and the Rise of Health Care in Rust Belt America (Gabriel Winant, Harvard University Press, 2021) in the Journal of American History, 109(2): 476.

2022, October 24. With Isabella Stratta. “What Delivery Drivers Need from D.C. Council.” 730DC.

2021. With Galey Modan. “Masking Faces, Un-Masking Work.” Invited blog post for Covid Signs Linguistic Landscape’s workshop.

2021, March 17. “Worker worries are the seeds of worker action.” An invited piece for Public Books.

2020, September. Book review of Hustle and Gig: Struggling and Surviving in the Sharing Economy (Alexandrea Ravenelle, University of California Press, 2019) in the American Journal of Sociology, 126(2): 498-500.

2020, May. With Kafui Attoh and Declan Cullen. “Shifting Gears: How Uber Became an Unchecked Regulatory Power in Washington, D.C.” An invited piece for Data & Society’s Medium blog, Points.

2020, May. Book review of Humans as a Service; The Promise and Perils of Work in the Gig Economy (Jeremias Prassl, Oxford University Press, 2018); Gigged: The End of the Job and the Future of Work (Sarah Kessler, St. Martin’s Press, 2018); and Uberland: How Algorithms Are Rewriting the Rules of Work (Alex Rosenblat, University of California Press, 2018) in Labor: Studies in Working Class History, 17(2): 112-115.

2019, April. The Uber Workplace. A report for Georgetown University’s D.C. Public Policy Initiative and the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor.

2018, December 28. “A Death in Transit: Debt and Despair Fuel a Suicide Crisis in the Taxi Industry.” An invited piece for CityLab’s year-end perspective, “From Singapore to D.C. to Lagos: Global Thinkers on Ideas That Died.” 

2018, August 31. With Declan Cullen and Kafui Attoh. “Taking Back the Wheel.” Dissent Magazine.

2018, June 25. With Kafui Attoh and Declan Cullen. “Tax Uber and Lift the Veil.” A short-piece for Georgetown University’s Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor.

2018, February 12. With Kafui Attoh and Declan Cullen. “Uber, Metropocalyse, and Economic Inequality in Washington, D.C.” A short piece for Working-Class Perspectives, a project of Georgetown University’s Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor. (Reposted at NewGeography.com)

2017, July 10. With Kafui Attoh and Declan Cullen. “The Work Lives of Uber Drivers: Worse Than You Think.” A short piece for Working-Class Perspectives, a project of Georgetown University’s Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor.

2016. Review of The Housing Question: Tensions, Continuities, and Contingencies in the Modern City (Edward Murphy and Najib Hourani, Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2013). Journal of Planning Education and Research, 36(4): 492-494.

2015. Review of Saving the Neighborhood: Racially Restrictive Covenants, Law, and Social Norms (Richard Brooks and Carol Rose, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2013). Journal of Race and Policy, 11(1): 71-75.

2015. Review of Folklore of the Freeway: Race and Revolt in the Modernist City (Eric Avila, Minneapolis, MN: Minnesota University Press, 2014). The Association of American Geographers Review of Books, 3(1): 12-13.

2014. “Introduction.” Book Review Forum for Building a House in Heaven: Pious Neoliberalism and Islamic Charity in Egypt (Mona Atia, Minneapolis, MN: Minnesota University Press, 2013). Antipode: A Radical Geography Journal.

refereed book chapters

2022. “Policy-failing: A repealed right to shelter,” The Urban Politics of Policy Failure, eds. John Lauermann and Cristina Temenos, Taylor & Francis.

2015. With Galey Modan. “Representations of Change: Gentrification in the Media,” Capital Dilemma: Growth and Inequality in Washington, D.C., eds. Derek Hyra and Sabhiya Prince, Routledge Press, 315-330.

2015. “Historic Preservation and Cartography,” History of Cartography, Volume 6: The Twentieth Century. Mark Monmonier, ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

2015. “Gentrification and Housing Policies in Washington,” Oxford African American Studies Center, ed. H. L. Gates, Jr. Oxford University Press.

2014. “Changing Approaches to Urban Theory,” Cities of North America. Lisa Benton-Short, ed. Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 37-58.

media

The Hustle: “The failure of the Domino’s 30-minute delivery guarantee.” 19 April 2024

Eftertryk: “Gig-økonomiens forandring af byrummet.” 11 March 2024 (In Danish)

Business Insider: “The biggest perk of gig work might also be its downfall.” 10 March 2024

San Francisco Examiner: “Experts say Uber, Lyft drivers' protests have a point.” 17 February 2024

The American Prospect: “Uber and the Impoverished Public Expectations of the 2010s.” 16 January 2024

L.A. Times: “10 Best Tech Books of 2023.” 22 December 2023

Bloomberg: “Here are 15 Books About Cities We Read in 2023.” 21 December 2023

Wired: “Europe to End Robo-Firing in Major Gig Economy Overhaul.” 13 December 2023

The Majority Report podcast: “New GOP Speaker's Extremism; Uber’s Urban Capture w/ Alex Sammon, Katie J. Wells.” 26 October 2023

Jacobin: “The Failures of Neoliberal Governance Paved the Way for Uber’s Conquest of the City.” 22 October 2023

Fast Company: “Uber and Lyft are playing chicken with lawmakers—and the rideshare giants keep winning.” 29 August 2023

The Washingtonian: “37 best things to do in the D.C. area this week.” 21 August 2023

Washington City Paper: “Best bests of August 17-23.” 17 August 2023

WAMU 88.5 FM: “Ride-hailing arrived in D.C. ten years ago, bringing convenience but also negative consequences for the city.” 15 August 2023

Bloomberg’s CityLab: “How Bad Has Ride-Hailing Been for Cities?” 15 August 2023

MarketWatch: “Uber pitched itself as a solution — instead, it’s ‘a symptom of a very broken job market,’ new book says.” 15 August 2023

Peoples & Things podcast: “How Uber disrupted Washington, D.C.” 14 August 2023

This Machine Kills podcast: “Uber’s Politics of low expectations.” 12 August 2023

Publisher’s Weekly: “Disrupting D.C.: The Rise of Uber and the Fall of the City.” August 2023

NPR’s All Things Considered: “DoorDash announced a new hourly pay option — but workers say there's a catch.” 6 July 2023

Jacobin: “Food delivery workers’ labor conditions are abysmal.” 28 April 2023

Dissent’s Belabored podcast: “How to bargain for Power, with Jane McAlevey.” 21 April 2023

Bloomberg: “The precarious professional lives of the instant delivery workplace.” 20 April 2023

WPFW 89.3 FM Your Rights at Work: “Instant delivery: Fast but not fair.” 20 April 2023

Washington City Paper: “Deliver drivers face critical risks despite D.C.’s labor-friendly laws.” 19 April 2023

Georgetown University: “DC food delivery drivers face safety risks, unpredictable wages, new study finds.” 19 April 2023

WPFW 89.3 FM Taking Action: “The Instant Delivery Workplace.” 11 April 2023

Daily Beast: “Your Uber data is being mined to prevent bridge collapses.” 3 November 2022

StreetSense Media: “The gig economy’s latest adversary: inflation.” 3 August 2022

Wired: “Gig workers are losing their hard-won rights.” 1 August 2022

MarketWatch: “‘I don’t know how I fell for this’: How scammers target vulnerable gig workers, and why it may never end.” 27 July 2022

Montreal Now on CJAD 800 AM. “Uber Files.” 13 July 2022

CBC News: “Uber deliberately dodged authorities, ignored rules in early years, leaked documents show.” 10 July 2022

Connecticut Insider: “CT delivery and rideshare drivers hit hard by rising gas prices.” 6 June 2022

Washington City Paper: “Coming in Hot, an Alternative to Third-Party Delivery Apps—Bring It!” 17 March 2022

CNN: “Uber and Lyft are offering fuel surcharges and cash back offers for workers. Is it enough?” 17 March 2022

MarketWatch: “From treatment of gig workers to tip transparency, the app-based economy could see key changes in 2022.” 30 December 2021

Wired: “DoorDash joins the instant delivery game—with employees.” 6 December 2021

Phoenix Business Journal: “Jobs of desperation: How ridehailing, food delivery workers lose out in the gig economy.” 26 July 2021

Fast Casual: “Did Uber Eats' Super Bowl ad miss the mark?” 11 March 2021

Wired: “Gig workers gather their own data to check the algorithm’s math.” 24 February 2021

CNN: “Some delivery workers have no choice but to bring their kids along during the pandemic.” 12 February 2021

730DC: “It’s a very capitalist company.” 22 January 2021

The Wash: “DC app-based drivers monitoring fallout from California vote.” 17 November 2020

MarketWatch: “Uber brands gig companies’ efforts to reshape labor laws as ‘IC+.’” 11 November 2020

The Wash: “Despite obvious support for Biden, California voters mixed on ballot measures” 9 November 2020

City Monitor: “Uber and Lyft beat California’s gig-worker law, and they won’t stop there.” 6 November 2020

Labor Radio Podcast Network: “Election Recap #2.” 5 November 2020

Wired: “With $200 million, Uber and Lyft write their own labor law.” 4 November 2020

VICE: “Proposition 22 passes, but Uber and Lyft are only delaying the inevitable.” 4 November 2020

Reuters: “Waiting for Work: Pandemic leaves U.S. gig workers clamoring for jobs.” 19 October 2020

VICE: “Gig economy researchers want corporations to stop influencing research.” 30 July 2020

Bloomberg CityLab: “How the Coronavirus Recovery Is Changing Cities.” 22 June 2020

The Washington City Paper: “Delivering food in D.C. has always been a tough job. Then came a pandemic.” 21 May 2020

GEN, an online Medium publication of politics, power, and culture: “Is grocery delivery ethical during a pandemic?” 9 April 2020

CityLab, an online publication of Bloomberg Media: “Why Spin workers in San Francisco have unionized.” 27 December 2019

CNN: “2019 was the year that tech workers had enough.” 18 December 2019

Georgetown University Magazine. “Is Uber taking its drivers for a ride?” Fall 2019.

CNN: “Uber claims new California law still won't force it to classify drivers as employees.” 11 August 2019

Bloomberg Radio: National news interview. 11 August 2019

CityLab, an online publication of Atlantic Media: “For ride-hailing drivers, data is power.” 22 August 2019

CityLab, an online publication of Atlantic Media: “Uber and Lyft really don’t want California to pass this worker rights bill.” 13 June 2019

The San Francisco Chronicle: “Uber, Lyft drivers continue despite gripes because options are few.” 10 June 2019

The San Francisco Chronicle: “Gig workers from Postmates protest.” 22 May 2019

Deutsche Welle, an international television broadcast from Germany: “Uber drivers stage a worldwide walkout to protest wages and working conditions.” 10 May 2019

Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen, a national television station in Germany: “Uber startet an Börse mit 82 Milliarden Dollar.” 10 May 2019

Washington Examiner: “Ride-share drivers run up debt to keep jobs in Uber ‘casino.’” 10 May 2019

CNN NewsSource, a content producer for local television stations: “Uber strike.” 9 May 2019. Aired as part of KSNV’s (Las Vegas) News 3 Live at 6:30pm. Video available on request

WPFW 89.3 FM, local radio station in Washington, D.C.: “Union city radio: Your rights at work.” 9 May 2019

E.W. Scripps, a content producer for local television stations: “Uber strike.” 9 May 2019. Video available on request

The Washington Post: “Uber and Lyft drivers strike for pay transparency — after algorithms made it harder to understand.” 8 May 2019

ABC National News: The Briefing Room: “Strike highlights ‘high unregulated’ ride-share industry.” 8 May 2019

U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders’ 2020 Campaign Video: “Uber drivers on strike.” 8 May 2019

94.7 FM The Drive, local radio in Washington, D.C.: “Uber, Lyft driver rally calls for higher wages, more transparency.” 7 May 2019

The Washington Post: “Strike by Uber and Lyft drivers has potential to disrupt travel for thousands.” 7 May 2019

WTOP 103.5 FM, local radio in Washington, D.C.: “DC-area strike organizers aren’t expecting great disruptions to Uber, Lyft commutes.” 7 May 2019

WAMU 88.5 FM, National Public Radio’s local station in Washington, D.C.: “Uber, Lyft drivers plan nationwide strike. But how revved up are they in D.C.?” 7 May 2019

NBC4 Washington, local television in Washington, D.C.: “Ride-Share Drivers Plan to Strike in DC Wednesday.” 3 May 2019

Axios: “Study finds Uber drivers could earn as little as $5 an hour.” 29 April 2019

Business Insider: “Long hours, isolating loneliness, and confusing fees: Uber drivers in Washington, DC, are struggling to make ends meet.” 21 April 2019

NBC4 Washington, local television in Washington, D.C.: “Half of DC Uber drivers live below poverty line: Report.” 20 April 2019

USA Today: “New from around our 50 states: D.C. area ride-sharing drivers are paid using wage calculations so hard to pinpoint that many are being driven into debt without even knowing it.” 19 April 2019

WTOP 103.5 FM, local radio in Washington, D.C.: “DC must study impact of ride-share services on drivers, environment, researchers say.” 19 April 2019

OnLabor Blog: “Today’s News & Commentary: Uber drivers in Washington, D.C. struggle to understand their actual pay.” 19 April 2019

The Washington Post: “Study shows some drivers for Uber in D.C. found it ‘unsustainable.’” 18 April 2019

Politico: “Morning Shift: D.C. Uber drivers don’t know how much they’re paid.” 18 April 2019

WAMU 88.5 FM, National Public Radio’s local station in Washington, D.C.: “‘Driving for Uber is like a mystery box’: Researcher calls for rideshare oversight in D.C.” 18 April 2019

CityLab, an online publication of Atlantic Media: “Conversations with D.C. Uber drivers reveal stress and debt.” 18 April 2019

WUSA 9, local television in Washington, D.C.: “Study: Some DC ride-sharing drivers make only $5 an hour.” 18 April 2019

DCist: “D.C. Uber drivers often don’t know what they earn after expenses (as little as $5 an hour), study finds.” 18 April 2019

Mobility Lab: “Uber drivers have no idea how much money they make, report finds.” 18 April 2019

Georgetown University’s Website: “On-demand, ride-hail drivers face debt, danger, says study recommending DC action.” 18 April 2019

WPFW 89.3 FM, local radio station in Washington, D.C.: “Union City Radio: Your Rights at Work.” 18 April 2019

Daily Beast: “Women harassed by Uber and Lyft drivers want answers—not a $5 credit.” 15 April 2019

CNN: “Lyft drivers question company's future as a public company.” 29 March 2019

CityLab, an online publication of Atlantic Media: “The latest trend in co-working: childcare.” 27 March 2019

CNN: “Instacart changes tip policy after worker backlash.” 6 February 2019

The Kojo Nnamdi Show on WAMU 88.5 FM: “No benefits, lower pay, fewer hours: The reality of temp work” 29 January 2019

The American Scholar: “License to thrive? Ride-hailing services are prospering. So why aren’t their drivers?” 3 December 2018

CNN: “Didi's safety problem is every ride-share company’s problem.” 31 August 2018

Huffington Post: “New study finds ride-hailing drivers are eager to organize, despite challenges.” 14 June 2018

Refinery29, a women’s news site: “The option to request female drivers isn’t the solution to Uber’s sexual assault issues.” 2 May 2018

WBUR 90.9 FM, National Public Radio’s local station in Boston, MA: “As Uber evolves, a new effort to please its drivers.” 28 August 2017

Fox5 News, local television in Washington, D.C.: “DC Uber drivers not satisfied with compensation, study says.” 2 August 2017

WAMU 88.5 FM, National Public Radio’s local station in Washington, D.C.: “Low wages, high stress: D.C. researchers delve into the lives of Uber drivers.” 1 August 2017

CityLab, an online publication of Atlantic Media: “The pitfalls of driving for Uber: What Uber drivers say about Uber.” 19 July 2017

Associated Press: “1000s of Baltimore buildings to be torn down to fight blight.” 5 January 2016