The Role of Municipalities in the Sharing Economy
Over the last three years, my colleagues, PhD and master students, and I worked to answer the questions of how city governments engage with the sharing economy, which governance mechanisms they employ, and which roles they play. We visited six cities including Amsterdam, Berlin, Gothenburg, London, Malmö and San Francisco. We conducted about 100 interviews with city government officials, politicians, urban developers, sharing economy organisations, knowledge institutes and think tanks. We organised three focus groups with people using sharing services and four participatory workshops with city government officials. All this data, input and feedback helped us develop a framework that identifies five mechanisms and 12 roles in which cities govern the sharing economy. To communicate our research results to city governments and other (primarily non-academic) audiences, we have created a series of short videos. This series consists of an introductory film followed by five films, each of which discusses one of the five governance mechanisms: regulating, self-governing, providing, enabling, and collaborating. We hope that these films will serve both as an inspiration and as a communication tool for municipalities developing their sharing economy strategies. We also hope they will be of use to sharing economy experts, activists and citizens seeking for a simple way to understand and communicate the roles that city governments play when governing the sharing economy.
Watch them individually or through our playlist.
Introduction
With increasing urbanization, cities now face numerous sustainability challenges: climate change, pollution, waste generation, resource use, social segregation, unemployment and poverty. To address these challenges many city governments work with a variety of different approaches, one of which is ‘the sharing economy’. But how do city governments engage with the sharing economy? Which governance mechanisms do they employ and which roles do they play? This is a series of five short films exploring governance roles through which municipalities engage with and shape the sharing economy in Amsterdam, Berlin, Gothenburg, London, Malmö and San Francisco.
More information here.
Regulating
In many countries, city governments choose to regulate sharing economy initiatives. In the ‘regulator role’, municipalities use regulatory tools like laws, taxes, bans and policies to govern the establishment and operation of sharing organisations. Cities may use these tools both to constrain the sharing economy, or to help it grow. This short film provides examples on how municipalities of Amsterdam, Berlin, Gothenburg, London, Malmö and San Francisco regulate the sharing economy.
More information here.
Self-governing
Municipalities may engage with the sharing economy through the ‘self-governing mechanism’. Self-governing refers to the capacity of municipalities to govern their own activities. There are at least three roles to exemplify this mechanism: the city as a consumer, the city as a sharer and the city as a data user. This short film provides examples on how municipalities of Amsterdam, Gothenburg, London, Malmö and San Francisco self-govern the sharing economy.
More information here.
Providing
Municipalities can also govern sharing economy organisations by providing or withholding practical, material and infrastructural means. The mechanism of providing includes at least four roles: the ‘city as an owner’, the ‘city as a host’, the ‘city as an investor’ and the ‘city as a data provider’. This short film offers examples on how municipalities of Amsterdam, Berlin, Gothenburg, London and Malmö govern the sharing economy through provision.
More information here.
Enabling
Municipalities may govern sharing economy organisations by enabling or disabling them. As opposed to the mechanism of providing, enabling relies on intangible means like persuasion, argumentation and incentives. This mechanism includes at least two roles: the ‘city as a match-maker’ and the ‘city as a communicator’.
More information here.
Collaborating
Municipalities may engage with sharing economy initiatives through collaborative mechanisms where both parties play active roles in the governance process. At least two city roles can be identified here: the ‘city as a negotiator’ and the ‘city as a partner’. This short film provides examples on how municipalities of Amsterdam, Gothenburg and Malmö collaborate with sharing economy organisations.
More information here.
The above films are based on the research done in two research projects: Sharing and the City (funded by Swedish Research Council Formas) and Urban Sharing research programme, which has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No 771872). The films are a part of the Sharing Cities Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) developed at the International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics (IIIEE), Lund University, Sweden, and funded through the Sharing Cities Sweden project.
SHARING ECONOMY IN GOTHENBURG
Here are a few examples of how the sharing economy is being developed in the city of Gothenburg (Sweden). The four examples (Toy Library, Sporting Bank, Meet the Locals and the Smart Map) allow for a deeper understanding on how to institutionalize the Sharing Economy.
The below films are part of research project Sharing and the City (funded by Swedish Research Council FORMAS) and Sharing Cities Sweden innovation programme (carried out within Viable Cities, a Swedish strategic innovation program for smart and sustainable cities, which is jointly funded by VINNOVA, the Swedish Energy Agency and FORMAS). It was produced in collaboration with West Sweden Tourist Board, which promotes new and more sustainable visitor experiences. The film is a part of the Sharing Cities Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) developed at the International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics (IIIEE), Lund University, Sweden, and funded through the Sharing Cities Sweden project.
Toy Library - Leksaksbiblioteket
On average children have 536 toys each… But how many are actually used? By borrowing instead of buying we can save space, money, reduce resource use and generation of household waste. Toy Library (Leksaksbibliteket) in Gothenburg, Sweden, allows parents avoid unnecessary purchases and children try the toys and experiment. In this film Anna Martinez takes you on an excursion to the Toy Library. Learn more at: http://www.leksaksbiblioteket.se/en/home/
Sporting Bank - Fritidsbanken
Sporting Bank (Fritidsbanken) is like a library stuffed with sports and leisure items. Here you can borrow equipment for an active leisure, such as skis, skates, roller-blades, life jackets, snowboards and much more. The loan period is 14 days. Today there are many Sporting Banks all over Sweden. The Fritidsbanken brand is owned by Fritidsbanken Sweden non-profit association, in which all the managers who run a local Fritidsbank are members. In this film Anna Martinez takes you on an excursion to Sporting Bank in Gothenburg. Learn more at: https://www.fritidsbanken.se/
Meet the locals
Would you like to explore the Swedish lifestyle from a local perspective? It is easier than you think to get close to the daily life in West Sweden. Meet the Locals platform helps you in this. Sharing is in the core of Meet the Locals ,and it comes in various forms: locals who share their hobby with visitors, or initiatives that reduce the use of resources by sharing or borrowing instead of buying. It can be a service for sharing a ride instead of traveling alone in a car, or when someone shares leftover fruit from their garden for someone else to enjoy. You can even pack light because there are great clothes by Swedish designers available for hire. Or choose to stay at someone’s house to see what a home can look like in this part ofthe world. In this film Anna Martinez helps you explore what Meet the Locals offers. Learn more at: https://meetthelocals.se/en/
THE SMART MAP - SMARTA KARTAN
Would you like to reduce environmental and social impacts from your consumption and develop a more sustainable lifestyle? Then Smarta Kartan (or The Smart Map) is for you! The Smart Map is a digital map that connects people with their communities, facilitates new meetings and promotes access over ownership. Instead of buying new things, one can rent, share, exchange, borrow, give and receive already produced items. And the Smart Map, which is a collection of different sharing initiatives on one map, is there to support you! On the Smart Map, you will find do-it-yourself workshops, clothes swopping days, free shops, carpool groups, shared office spaces and much more. You can even borrow a dance floor! In this film, Anna Martinez shows you around the Smart Map in Gothenburg. Learn more at: https://www.smartakartan.se/en/
why share and repair?
In the films below I discuss why sharing and repairing provide more sustainable alternatives to the dominant lifestyles, as well as how one could share and repair more, and what risks one should consider when doing so.
The below films are part of the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) “Circular Economy: Sustainable Materials Management” developed at the International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics (IIIEE), Lund University, Sweden, and funded through the EIT Raw Materials Academy, a body of the European Union, under the Horizon 2020, the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation.
WHY SHARE?
Many goods stay idle for most of their lifetime, for example an average European car is used for only 29 minutes per day. Households own an increasing number of products and equipment, much of which is rarely used. So if we know that many goods are already out there, and they have a large idling capacity, why do we need to produce more? Why not optimise the use of already produced goods instead? The whole idea of sharing is built around access-based consumption and functional thinking. In this film, Sharing and the City researcher Yuliya Voytenko Palgan provides examples of sharing from various consumption domains, and explains why sharing can be an alternative and more sustainable ways of consuming.
WHY REPAIR?
While some goods stay idle, others are thrown away too soon, and 99% of the material content of goods becomes waste within 6 weeks. Short product life cycles intensify the throughput of resources in the economy and aggravate environmental and social impacts. For every bin of waste that a household produces, 70 bins of waste were made upstream. So even if we could recycle 100% of our household waste, it does not get us to the core of the problem. In this film, Sharing and the City researcher Yuliya Voytenko Palgan discusses alternatives to the dump culture and provides examples of how individuals may actively co-create production-consumption systems and re-frame their everyday consumption practices to include serious leisure projects, repair services, and upcycling strategies.
How Can We Share and Repair More?
Despite the potential of sharing and repairing to foster circular societal shifts, these activities are still marginal, and unsustainable lifestyles dominate. To make sharing and repairing normal and embedded in our everyday lives our perceptions need to change. People will also need to accept that it’s OK to wear someone else’s clothes or drive someone else’s car, and this can be equally fashionable and comfortable as wearing new clothes or driving your own car. People will also need to accept that it’s OK to repair their smart phones, laptops or bikes. You can do it yourself or – what is even more fun - with some help from your neighbours, colleagues, friends or co-citizens. In this film, Sharing and the City researcher Yuliya Voytenko Palgan discusses what is important to think about when trying to share and repair more.