I’ve been studying the sharing economy since about 2010. A sharing city is a city that has active policies oriented toward platforms and innovations that allow people to 'share.'

These include things like bike sharing, accommodation sharing, food swapping, and similar initiatives. There are also related activities that might not strictly be sharing in the technical sense — such as repair cafés or maker spaces — but that fall under the same broader umbrella of collaborative practices.

The two big challenges facing cities today are growing inequality and climate change.

We see very profound inequality in many cities — a kind of '99% to 1%' dynamic — where a very small group of mega-wealthy people are dominating cities, bidding up housing prices and living in extremely extravagant ways. Meanwhile, the majority of citizens are finding that everything is becoming unaffordable and that they are being priced out.

This creates deep social exclusion. At the same time, cities are on the front line of the climate crisis. So inequality and decarbonization are central urban questions.

There’s no doubt that Airbnb has made it possible for some middle-class people to stay in their homes — homes that might otherwise have become unaffordable due to a job loss, a divorce, or other life circumstances.

For many people, it has been a lifesaver. Being able to host someone and generate additional income has allowed them to remain housed.

At the same time, our research shows that Airbnb has very much contributed to gentrification. We see rising rents, housing units being pulled off the long-term rental market into the short-term market, housing values increasing, and people being pushed out of neighborhoods where they have lived for a long time.

Yes. In the United States, we find strong racial dynamics associated with Airbnb.

People living in predominantly white neighborhoods tend to have much better outcomes than people living in neighborhoods with more residents of color. We see racialized impacts in how hosts are rated. Other researchers have also found that Black guests are turned away from Airbnb.

Importantly, there is no regulation in the U.S. that prevents racial discrimination in lodging in this context. So Airbnb is an interesting case because it is doing both — providing income opportunities for some while simultaneously reinforcing inequality and discrimination.

When the sharing economy first emerged, cities didn’t do much. But as they began to see the impacts, they became much more proactive.

Today, cities are increasingly regulating sharing platforms to ensure they operate in ways that genuinely benefit residents. We see regulations around lodging and ride-hailing, and I think we will increasingly see more regulation around gig labor.

As new regulatory frameworks come into place, the positive benefits of these platforms can be strengthened while many of the negative impacts are curtailed.

The most important thing is that it is a carbon-free city — that we have decarbonized our environment and are no longer using an energy system that is harming people and the planet.

It also needs to be a much more socially inclusive city, where large numbers of people are not marginalized or excluded from urban prosperity. And it should be more participatory and democratic — a city where citizens collectively determine their future.

Technology can be an important part of that empowerment. But it has to be technology controlled by people — not by a small number of companies that own the data and use it primarily for profit.

Technology should be in the hands of everyone and used for the common good. ●