The Future of Sharing: Twelve Insights from a Roundtable for Horizon Scanning on Sharing Cities
In this article, Kes McCormick and Charlotte Leire at Lund University in Sweden, present key insights from a roundtable on “Sharing Cities — Shaping Tomorrow”. The roundtable gathered over 40 researchers and practitioners from around the world to share insights and ideas on the future of sharing in our cities and communities.
The sharing economy can contribute to social, environmental and economic sustainability, and sharing cities can unlock new opportunities and solve urban challenges by facilitating and applying the sharing economy in urban contexts. But it is imperative that the sharing economy is shaped and designed to advance urban sustainability.
In this time of pandemics and crises (including the impacts of the corona virus and how we emerge from this pandemic as well as the global climate and biodiversity crises), it is not only about finding short-term answers to all the challenges we face today, but also about developing robust and engaging long-term visions to find our way towards a better and brighter future than before.
We need to see opportunities, including the growing momentum for building back better and bolder as well as accelerating transformation processes, as much as thinking of challenges. To understand how we can think of opportunities, of ways forward, of hope and ambition, we present twelve insights from the “Sharing Cities — Shaping Tomorrow” roundtable.
1. When it comes to consumers there is still a largely untapped potential for them to start voting with their euros and dollars on the sharing market, in the same way, we all do when choosing sustainable or ecological products.
2. Importantly, in urban sharing the role of consumers is shifted from passive consumers to active co-producers of value, who can contribute to co-creating sustainable lifestyles in cities and communities.
3. We need to continue reducing the barriers to integrate more sharing in our daily lifestyles. And the best way to change behaviour is almost always by controlling the environment, by simply making it easier to share through infrastructure.
4. It is of course important to foster a culture of sharing where social interaction and empowering our citizens is key. Sharing as a concept in Gothenburg also includes how we can share knowledge and co-create our city.
5. Sharing hubs are never going to break out of the eco-niche unless they have an excellent user experience. The behaviour of ownership is too strong and if it cannot be made easy to use and aspirational (rather than sensible) then sharing practices will remain on the margins.
6. The sharing economy can help us overcome a crisis and strengthen urban resilience by: activating idling resources and prolonging their lifetime, reducing dependence on global supply chains, and activating people and communities.
7. In times of crisis come times of opportunity. Although dramatically affected by the pandemic, many sharing organizations provide essential services to the public together with other actors in society. The value of sharing to society is clear.
8. We are exploring how sharing can enable a greener, more liveable and climate neutral city. We need to set a clear mission in the transition and through sharing, we can enable that no one is left behind!
9. We need to build trust between different stakeholders and make space and infrastructure for sharing in our cities. Through the visibility of sharing, we can show a different way of consuming goods and services.
10. There is a tendency to focus on the benefits of sharing and equal attention should also be focused on the costs (and investments) needed to support safe, sustainable sharing in a re-configured urban system.
11. There is a lot of talk about ‘system change’ for sustainability, but innovations such as sharing often emerge within the current (unsustainable) ‘system’ (and the attended policies, regulations, and tax regimes). We need to continuously consider transitional futures.
12. The sharing economy can contribute to social, environmental and economic sustainability, and sharing cities can unlock new opportunities and solve urban challenges — but only by design and through active and robust governance.
Horizon scanning is an approach for identifying early signs of potentially important developments through a systematic examination of potential threats and opportunities. The method calls for determining what is constant, what changes, and what constantly changes. It explores novel and unexpected issues as well as persistent problems and trends, including matters at the margins of current thinking that challenge past assumptions.
A roundtable is a way to organise discussion in groups. Participants agree on a specific topic to discuss and debate. Participants are equally involved and asked to contribute to sharing understanding on the topic in focus, as illustrated by the idea of a circular layout referred to in the term roundtable. Horizon scanning in groups through a roundtable allows a wider and deeper investigation and discussion of a topic.
Download the report — The Future of Sharing? A Roundtable for Horizon Scanning on Sharing Cities
Explore the course — Sharing Cities: Governance and Urban Sustainability
Sharing Cities Sweden is a program for the sharing economy in cities in Sweden. The program is part of the Swedish strategic innovation programme Viable Cities aiming at accelerating the transition to inclusive and climate neutral cities by 2030 with digitalisation and citizen engagement as enablers. Viable Cities is jointly funded by Vinnova, the Swedish Energy Agency and Formas, and hosted by KTH.
