THE PLATFORMIZATION OF SKILLED LABOUR: YOUNG ARCHITECTS ON DIGITAL LABOUR PLATFORMS IN TURKEY

Date

2025-9-30

Author

Çetin, Naz

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This thesis aims to examine how the transition of young architects in Turkey from traditional office-based employment to online digital labour platforms reshapes their work practices and labour conditions. To capture this transition, the study focuses on young architects, a professional group that has started to engage with platform-based work relatively recently in Turkey. While most platform studies focus on low-skilled gig work, this thesis highlights the dynamics and conditions of skilled labour with an emphasis on the architects. By situating the research in Turkey, it further contributes to understanding how young professionals in a developing country experience the transition to platform-based work. This thesis draws on multiple literatures to provide conceptual background while answering the research question. In addition to platform studies, creative labour literature was also examined due to the classification of architecture as a creative profession. The study shows that platformization, when viewed in the broader trajectory of capitalism, represents a new phase in the restructuring of work and labour processes in a way that deepens precariousness for the conditions of skilled and creative work. To understand the effects of the transition, 21 semi-structured interviews with young architects were conducted in July 2025. Through the empirical findings based on interviews, this study aims to show different dimensions of the transformations/transitions of the work experiences of the young architects in Turkey, namely on the basis of employment status, informality, freelancing as a mode of working and creative work under platforms. Overall, the study demonstrates that platformization deepens existing precarious conditions, commodifies and fragments architectural practice, and contributes to the erosion of professional skills.

Subject Keywords

Skilled Labour, Digital Labour Platforms, Platformization, Architectural Labour

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/116105

Collections

Graduate School of Social Sciences, Thesis