Title: The sharing city as a platform for a more sustainable city environment?

Authors: Minna-Maari Harmaala

Addresses: Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences, Ratapihantie 13, Helsinki, FI-00520, Finland

Abstract: The collaborative economy represents a new way of thinking about business, exchange, value and community. Activities and models within the collaborative economy enable access instead of ownership, encourage decentralised networks over centralised institutions, provide new models to unlock wealth and often do so to a wider group of stakeholders. They make use of idle assets and create new marketplaces. It seems there are numerous environmental savings and resource utilisation benefits that follow from wide-spread adoption of collaborative models. Moreover, there may be a flow of social benefits that come from engagement and enhancement of community spirit and belongingness. This paper will explore the concept of the collaborative economy and sharing cities as well as questions related to what cities stand to gain through the adoption of sharing initiatives, how a city can start promoting collaborative lifestyles and be used as platforms for sharing.

Keywords: collaborative economy; meaning; resource efficiency; competitive advantage; engagement; sharing cities; disruption; sustainability; sustainable cities; sustainable development; collaborative lifestyles.

DOI: 10.1504/IJENVH.2015.077116

International Journal of Environment and Health, 2015 Vol.7 No.4, pp.309 - 328

Received: 22 Jun 2015
Accepted: 07 Oct 2015
Published online: 21 Jun 2016 *

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