Unfolding the role of digital platforms in cultural production through Shanghai’s freelance photographers

This paper reveals the multifaceted role of digital platforms in cultural production, framing them as market innovators, social factories and media amplifiers. Employing a spatio-temporal behavioural approach, we empirically examine the daily practices of platform-based freelance photographers in Shanghai. Our findings demonstrate that while digital platforms empower grassroots individuals to launch careers as freelance photographers, they simultaneously exploit these workers through asymmetrical governance structures. Furthermore, platforms significantly shape creative place-making, offering local governments a strategic tool with which to propel speculative development of urban creative spaces.