How do platform co-ops work? Social empowerment challenges from the implementation of CoopCycle in Argentina

Abstract

This paper addresses the implementation of CoopCycle in Argentina. This platform co-op is an open-source digital infrastructure for cycling logistics as well as a federation made up of the bike delivery cooperatives that use the platform. The study addresses three distinct objectives: document the advancement of the Argentine implementation by identifying obstacles and challenges in a specific municipality in the country, describe the economic and political benefits worker cooperatives of CoopCycle at a pilot stage in Argentina bring to couriers, and examine this first year of CoopCycle Latinoamérica, which was established in December 2021, as well as the transition of the CoopCycle federation into a multi-stakeholder cooperative, with a focus on the form of inclusion of experiences from outside Europe. Each objective is deployed at different levels: the first in the Argentine municipality of San Martín, the second in Argentina, and the third in the Latin American region. The methodology strategy is based on a single qualitative case study. The primary research techniques resorted to were participant observation, semi-structured interviews, documentary analysis, and desk research.