New Research by McElroy Critically Examines Landlord Technology
Posted: 5/16/2024 (CSDE Research)
CSDE Affiliate Erin McElroy (Geography) authored new research in Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, titled “The work of landlord technology: The fictions of frictionless property management“. Landlord technology—or the systems used by landlords to control and regulate tenant lives, spaces, and data—frequently promises “frictionless” building management and residential experiences. Yet services such as “digital doormen” and virtual property management platforms often create more work for tenants. With a proposition that new forms of material and affective labor are created by landlord technologies despite promises of frictionless living, this article focuses on the various struggles that workers and tenants face in using, maintaining, refusing, and, at times, organizing against property automation.