The 2024 UOC Santander Award

Sharing Space

For my postdoctoral stay at the University of Catalonia (2020-2023) I recently received the 2024 Santander Award. This recognition means a lot to me also because it provides me with an opportunity to reflect on the very particular circumstances of this stay and the collaborations that allowed me to thrive in doing research.

In this interview, I highlight the research that I have carried out during a rather extraordinary period in my academic trajectory, but also acknowledge that no single researcher stands without the participation, encouragement, feedback and input of others:

https://www.uoc.edu/en/news/2025/interview-maartje-roelofsen

The postdoctoral project has made recognized theoretical and methodological contributions in human geography, digital geography and the fields of urban studies, tourism studies and hospitality studies. Original theoretical insights have been provided on the role that digital platforms play in the understanding and experience of hospitality. Relatedly, the postdoctoral project has shaped debates on sustainable tourism development in the context of crisis through the following publications:

  • 2021 Roelofsen, M., and Minca, C. “Sanitized homes and healthy bodies. Reflections on Airbnb’s response to the pandemic.” Oikonomics 15 (May). https://doi.org/7238/o.n15.2104 [Open Access]
  • 2021 Roelofsen, M. “Capitalizing on crises. Transformations in Airbnb from the Great Recession to the COVID-19 pandemic”. In Pecorelli, V. (ed.) From Overtourism to Undertourism: Sustainable Scenarios in Post Pandemic Times, pp. 33–54. Unicopli
  • 2022 Fischer, S.L., and Roelofsen, M. “Accommodating guests during pandemic times: A case-study of the Airbnb Host Community in Aarhus, Denmark.” Journal of Tourism Futures. https://doi.org/10.1108/JTF-09-2021-0209 [Open Access]

The project has also provided novel insights into the (geo)political implications of STR platforms as placemaking devices that selectively promote some listings, people and places over others, effectively transforming everyday life in cities. The empirical work contributed to existing debates on platform capitalism and the role that platform users play in shaping platform governance. This work has been published in a monograph and articles:

  • 2022 Roelofsen, M. Hospitality, Home and Life in the Platform Economies of Tourism. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
  • 2023 Roelofsen, M., and Webster, N. A. “Work, Power and Inequalities”. In Webster, N. A., Zhang, Q., Butler, O., Christensen, M. D., Duus, K., Floros, K., Kusk, K., & Roelofsen, M. Thinking through digital mediations and spatialities of platform based work: A roundtable reflection. Kulturgeografiskt Seminarium 2023:1. Stockholm University, Department of Human Geography, Sweden. Available at: http://su.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A1813354&dswid=2766 [Open Access]
  • 2022 Roelofsen, M., and Goyette, K. “Second shift 2.0. Intensifying housework in platform urbanism”. In Strüber, A. and Bauriedl, S. (eds.) Platformization of Urban Life. Towards a Technocapitalist Transformation of European Cities, pp. 119–134. Transcript Publishing – Columbia University Press. Available at: https://www.transcript-verlag.de/978-3-8376-5964-1/platformization-of-urban-life/ [Open Access]

Aside from these results , I have made theoretical and empirical contributions to biopolitical understandings of tourism. These publications explored how science in relation to the COVID-19 health crisis was selectively used to advance certain (bio)political agendas, and how these political agendas resulted in certain (in)actions in the realm of tourism. The publications were written during the postdoctoral stay but some of these were only published after the appointment period:

  • 2024 Roelofsen, M., and Minca, C. (eds.) Tourism and Biopolitics in Pandemic Times. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
  • 2023 Roelofsen, M., and Cruz, de Cássia Ariza da, R. “Commentary: Denialist and Neoliberal Approaches to Tourism and the COVID-19 Pandemic.” Tourism Geographies, 25(6), 1630–1637. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616688.2023.2269546 [Open Access]
  • 2023 Minca, C., and Roelofsen, M. “Exploring biopolitical tourism spatialities in pandemic times”. In M. Roelofsen and C. Minca (eds) Tourism and Biopolitics in Pandemic Times, pp. 2–16. London: Palgrave Macmillan. [Open Access]
  • 2023 Ochieng, A., Ampumuza, C., and Roelofsen, M. “Re-habituation and the more-than-human biopolitics of gorilla tourism in Uganda”. In M. Roelofsen and C. Minca (eds) Tourism and Biopolitics in Pandemic Times, pp. 65–84. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
  • 2024 Minca C., and Roelofsen, M. “Post-COVID biopolitical fantasies and the case of the Dutch ‘Pilot Holidays’.” Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space 42(2), 152-155. https://doi.org/1177/23996544231194828a
  • 2024 Iaquinto, B. L., Cheer, J. M., Roelofsen, M., Minca, C., Ong, C.-E., Wong, C., Lapointe, D., Qu, M., McCormick, A., and Lin, C.-C. T. “Coercive geographies: Biopower, spatial politics, and the tourist.” Environment and Planning C. Politics and Space 42(2), 149-170. https://doi.org/10.1177/23996544231194828

Central to other contributions has been the contested role that emerging digital technologies have played in the experience of places and spaces. More specifically, my work contributed to the relevant ‘state of the art’ by problematizing the often taken-for-granted equal access to digital technologies and the presumed widespread social and economic benefits accrued through such technologies. My research reflected on the disadvantages of marginalized social groups often overlooked in the conceptualization and application of digital innovations:

  • 2022 Roelofsen, M., and Carter-White, R. “Virtual reality as a spatial prompt in geography learning and teaching.” Geographical Research60 (4), 625– 636. https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-5871.12551 [Open Access]
  • 2024 Roelofsen, M. “The Digital Turn in Tourism”. In J. Wilson and D. Müller (eds) The New Routledge Handbook of Tourism Geographies. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003286301-30
  • 2023 Tuomi, A., Jianu, B., Roelofsen, M. and Passos Ascencao, M. “Riding against the algorithm: Algorithmic management in on-demand food delivery.” In: Ferrer-Rosell, B., Massimo, D., Berezina, K. (eds) Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2023. ENTER 2023. Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics. Cham: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-25752-0_3 [Open Access]

Finally, I have contributed to the EPTUR project (led by the NOUTUR research group) which sets the general scientific objective of analysing the evolution and processes of integration, adaptation and resilience of the tourist platform economy (TPE) in Spain in the context of digitalization and the COVID-pandemic.