Dr. Tobias Kuttler
Contact
D-10785 Berlin
Tobias Kuttler is a research associate at the Fairwork Secretariat based at the WZB.
Tobias is a geographer and urban planner with a research focus on the interrelations of urban development, mobility and platform work. He has a particular regional research interest in South Asia.
Prior to his engagement in the Fairwork project, he was a research associate at TU Berlin (Chair of Work, Technology and Participation) and a PhD scholar at TU Munich and University of Hamburg.
His PhD thesis focused on the continuities and changes in the taxi sector of Mumbai/India, in the context of the emergence of digital mobility platforms. By researching both platform and metered taxi driver’s everyday driving practices and socialities, he investigated the embeddedness of platform mobilities in the socio-spatial networks of the established metered taxi sector.
For the Fairwork project, Tobias is coordinating Fairwork’s research activities in several countries in Europe and Asia. He coordinates the project’s regional activities in Europe and is also part of the Fairwork Germany team.
Selected Publications
Graham, M., Alyanak, O., Bertolini, A., Feuerstein, P., Kuttler, T., Ustek Spilda, F., & Valente, J. (2025). Pressure and praise as an action research methodology: The case of Fairwork. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 0308518X251336893.
Kuttler, T., Özkiziltan Wagenführer, D., & Dutta, D. (2025). Leicht ist nur der Einstieg: Einblicke in das Leben der südasiatischen Fahrer* innen von Essenslieferdiensten. WZB-Mitteilungen: Quartalsheft für Sozialforschung, (188 (2/25)), 35-39.
Kuttler, T. (2024). "Urban mobilities in Mumbai: Towards worker-centric platformisation beyond 'urban solutionism'." Urban Studies 62(9), 1750-1770.
Kuttler, T. (2024). Mobil in Mumbai: Wie digitale Plattformen Konflikte um Räume und Ressourcen befeuern. WZB-Mitteilungen: Quartalsheft für Sozialforschung, (184 (2/24)), 19-22.
Kuttler, T. (2023). “The spatial politics of platformization: Negotiating platform power in everyday taxi driving in Mumbai.“ Geoforum 147 (2023). Accepted Manuscript: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/318878
Kuttler, T. (2023). “(In)Formality and the Janus Face of the platform: Production of the ‘space of taxi driving’ between everyday realities and rationalities of the state and market.” In: Surie A and Huws U (eds) Platformization and Informality: Pathways of Change, Alteration, and Transformation. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Kuttler, T. (2022). "Going on a ride with Lefebvre: Everyday contestation of platform mobilities in Mumbai." Applied Mobilities 8(4), 361–377.
Kuttler, T. (2022). “Socio-spatial embedding of platform mobilities. A study on taxi driving.” In: Sujata Patel, D. Parthasarathy, George Jose (Eds.): Mumbai/Bombay. Majoritarian Neoliberalism, Informality, Resistance, and Wellbeing. Taylor & Francis.
Kuttler, T., Moraglio, M. 2021. Re-thinking Mobility Poverty: Understanding Users' Geographies, Backgrounds and Aptitudes. Taylor & Francis.
Find a full list of publications here.
Co-Author Fairwork Reports:
Fairwork (2026) Fairwork Germany Ratings 2026: Uneven Working Conditions in the Platform Economy. Berlin, Germany; Oxford, United Kingdom
Fairwork (2025) Fairwork Poland Ratings 2025: Silence Before the Storm? Social Security Protection in Polish Platform Work a Year Ahead of the Platform Work Directive. Oxford, United Kingdom; Berlin, Germany; Warsaw, Poland.
Fairwork (2025) Fairwork Spain Ratings 2025: Insufficient progress in protecting work on digital platforms. Madrid, Spain; Oxford, United Kingdom; Berlin, Germany.
Fairwork (2025) Fairwork Philippines Ratings 2025: Labour on the Edge – Riding through Extreme Weather and Precarious Labour. Oxford, United Kingdom; Berlin, Germany. Manila, Philippines
Fairwork (2025) Fairwork Germany Ratings 2025: The German Platform Economy in the Face of the EU Platform Directive. Berlin, Germany; Oxford, United Kingdom
Fairwork (2024) Fairwork Poland Ratings 2024: Intermediation Undermining Workers’ Rights in the Platform Economy. Warsaw, Poland; Berlin, Germany; Oxford, United Kingdom.
Fairwork (2023) Fairwork South Africa Ratings 2023: Advocating for safety, and dignity in the Platform Economy. Oxford, United Kingdom; Berlin, Germany.
Fairwork (2023) Fairwork 2023 Translation & Transcription Platform Ratings. Oxford, United Kingdom; Berlin, Germany.
Fairwork (2023) Fairwork Philippines Ratings 2023: Protecting Worker Health, Safety, and Security in the Philippine Platform Economy; Philippines.
Fairwork (2023) Fairwork Pakistan Ratings 2023: Labour Standards in the Platform Economy; Pakistan.