The platform fix: analyzing mechanisms and contradictions of how digital platforms tackle pending urban-economic challenges.

This article critically examines the concept of the "platform fix," defined as digital platforms—such as Amazon, eBay, Google, and Instagram—redefining spatial interactions to address urban-economic challenges through digital spatial fixes while becoming indispensable infrastructures. Focusing on the German urban retail sector, the study analyzes three specific platform fixes: the inner-city retail decline, socio-spatial hierarchies in fashion retail, and the Covid-19 pandemic's impact on retail. Empirical findings from interviews, surveys, and observations reveal that while platforms present themselves as solutions and enable new digitally mediated geographies, they often fail to resolve underlying structural problems, instead creating dependencies and intensifying existing inequalities. The article highlights the contradictions of platform capitalism, where platforms disrupt traditional retail only to offer digital solutions that increase their own power, urging cautious and critical engagement with public–private partnerships involving digital platforms in urban development.