The sharing economy has emerged as a transformative force in urban environments, addressing critical issues such as resource inefficiency, high living costs, and environmental sustainability. By enabling the collaborative use of assets and services, this model reduces waste, lowers expenses, and fosters community connections. From ride-sharing platforms to co-working spaces, the sharing economy leverages underutilised resources to create value for individuals and society.
At its core, the sharing economy facilitates access over ownership. Utilising digital platforms, it connects individuals who have surplus resources—be it a spare room, a parked car, or idle equipment—with those in need. This transaction model not only maximises the use of existing assets but also reduces the environmental footprint by decreasing the demand for new products. For instance, household utensil-sharing apps significantly reduce the need for every household to own specific tools, such as drillers.
The operational mechanics of the sharing economy are grounded in technology. Digital platforms serve as intermediaries, providing secure, user-friendly interfaces where transactions can be arranged and executed seamlessly. These platforms often incorporate sophisticated algorithms to match supply with demand efficiently, alongside robust systems for payment processing, user verification, and reputation management. Trust and transparency are further bolstered by user reviews and ratings, ensuring a high standard of service and accountability.
As urban populations swell, the pressure on housing, transportation, and other services intensifies. The sharing economy offers scalable solutions to these challenges, promoting more sustainable and resilient urban living. By encouraging the shared use of resources, cities can optimise space, reduce living costs, and enhance the quality of life for residents. Moreover, the social dimension of sharing can strengthen community ties, fostering a sense of belonging and mutual support among urban dwellers.
A platform for sharing residential spaces, allowing homeowners to rent out rooms or properties.
Netherlands · Startup
A website and app that enables people to borrow and rent household items from their neighbors.
United States · Nonprofit
A nonprofit news, action, and connection hub for the sharing transformation.
Uber
United States · Company
Developers of CausalML, an open-source Python package for uplift modeling.
United States · Company
A carsharing service that allows drivers to rent cars from private car owners, and owners to rent out their cars for payment.
Too Good To Go
Denmark · Company
A mobile application that connects customers to restaurants and stores that have unsold food surplus.
Turo
United States · Company
A peer-to-peer car sharing marketplace where guests can book any car they want from a vibrant community of hosts.
Report
Return on Investment in Bike Sharing SchemesEIT Urban Mobility / EY · Oct 1, 2025
A study quantifying the financial and social impact of bike-sharing, estimating €305 million in annual benefits from cleaner air, health improvements, and reduced congestion.
Article
Urban Sustainability and the Sharing Economynews.climate.columbia.edu
Sustainable urban living requires energy efficient buildings, smartgrids, mass transit, and green spaces—but it also seems to be evolving a new approach to owning and using resources. A growing aspect of sustainable urban living is the “sharing economy.” Sharing has always been a part of urban life; we have long shared books in public libraries, nature in parks, and seats on the stoops of row houses. But in the past few years, cities have seen a significant revival and acceleration in sharing activity and innovation. In cities around the world, people are now welcoming guests into spare rooms, sharing tools and equipment, and paying for rides in cars of people they don’t know. Start-up businesses are sharing computing space in the cloud and leasing office space and conference rooms by the hour. The sharing economy is growing as young people and a few older folks decide that access to cars and other resources is more important than owning them.
Article
Impacts of the Sharing Economy on Urban Sustainability: The Perceptions of Municipal Governments and Sharing Organisationsmdpi.com
By changing the institutionalised practices associated with resource distribution, the sharing economy could support sustainable urban transformations. However, its impacts on urban sustainability are unknown and contested, and key actors hold different perceptions about them. Understanding how they frame these impacts could help solve conflicts and outline what can be done to influence the development of the sharing economy in a way that fosters urban sustainability. This study explores the diversity of these frames across actors (sharing economy organisations and municipalities), segments (accommodation, bicycle, and car sharing), and cities (Amsterdam and Toronto). A framework of the impacts on urban sustainability was developed following a systematic literature review. This then guided the analysis of secondary data and 51 interviews with key actors. Results show that accommodation sharing is framed most negatively due to its impact on urban liveability. Bicycle sharing is surrounded by less conflict. Still, in Amsterdam, which has a well-functioning bicycle infrastructure, it is viewed less positively than in Toronto. Car sharing is the most positively framed segment in Amsterdam as its potentials to lower emissions align with municipal sustainability agendas. Practical insights for negotiations between sharing economy organisations and municipalities to advance urban sustainability are proposed.
Article
The Current and Future State of the Sharing Economybrookings.edu
The sharing economy is “the peer-to-peer based activity of obtaining, giving, or sharing access to good and services”. Alternative names for this phenomenon include gig economy, platform economy, access economy, and collaborative consumption. The sharing economy is estimated to grow from $14 billion in 2014 to $335 billion by 2025. This estimate is based on the rapid growth of Uber and Airbnb as indicative. Data shows that private vehicles go unused for 95 per cent of their lifetime. Together with the fact that there are fewer requirements to drive for Lyft, Ola and Uber than for a taxi company means greater supply of rides. Prices of shared services are also falling as indicated by Airbnb rates that are between 30 and 60 per cent cheaper than hotel rates around the world. More information shared on an online platform can lead to greater trust between users, but it can also lead to racial and gender bias. Sharing economy companies must work to combat bias on their platforms, both in their algorithms and their users. Removing some identifying information from profiles lowers risk of bias. It is difficult for any one company to form a monopoly since the cost for customers to switch between sharing economy services is quite low.
Article
Assessment of the Sharing Economy in the Context of Smart Cities: Social Performancemdpi.com
The sharing economy (SE) provides new opportunities to solve social, economic, and environmental problems, as well as increasing resource efficiency and releasing underutilized assets. However, social aspects of the sharing economy remain to be fully appraised. The present study aims to develop and apply a technique for assessing the sharing economy in the context of improving the social performance of smart cities. When considering social performance, we examine the relationship between the development of SE services and the public goods sector, as well as the potential of the sharing economy for improving the quality of life of citizens. A comparative analysis of approaches used to evaluate the sharing economy concluded that the social and environmental significance of the sharing economy can be most appropriately considered at the level of cities. The proposed technique is based on the use of the Smart City Index and Sharing Economy Index databases, data on collaborative economy platforms presented by Eurostat. The methodology used to assess the sharing economy comprises three stages: substantiation of the selected indicators for assessing SE; calculation of the presented integral index of the sharing economy; and construction of a matrix of indices of the sharing economy. At the first stage, correlation analysis was used; at the second stage, the TOPSIS system analysis method was used; and at the third stage we used graphical analysis. As a result, a ranking of 31 European cities was compiled in terms of the level of development of the sharing economy. It is shown that the sharing economy has a greater impact on public goods in cities with lower rates of economic development. In addition, significant changes in the 2020 ranking occurred due to restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. It is hoped that the obtained results will contribute to the development both of sharing economy methodologies and the urban environment by supporting sharing services.
Article
From Airbnb to city bikes, the ‘sharing economy’ has been seized by big moneytheguardian.com
To flourish, the informal digital networks providing new services needed to be protected from the market
Article
Sharing Economy receives bronze in Axiom Business Book Awardsmitpress.mit.edu
Currently in its tenth year, the Axiom Business Book Awards are intended to bring increased recognition to exemplary business books and their creators, with the understanding that business people are an information-hungry segment of the population, eager to learn about great new books that will inspire them and help them improve their careers and businesses. The 76 medals went to publishers and authors representing 17 U.S. states; 2 Canadian provinces; the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, and Switzerland.
Article
Putting the sharing economy into perspectivesciencedirect.com
• We provide a definition of the sharing economy. • We discuss the economic, environmental and social impacts of the sharing economy. • We discuss the current regulatory principles that governments apply. • We go into possible alternatives to the current commercial sharing platforms.
Article
The Sharing Economy Isn’t About Sharing at Allhbr.org
The sharing economy has been widely hailed as a major growth sector, by sources ranging from Fortune magazine to President Obama. It has disrupted mature industries, such as hotels and automotives, by providing consumers with convenient and cost efficient access to resources without the financial, emotional, or social burdens of ownership. But the sharing economy isn’t really a “sharing” economy at all; it’s an access economy.
Article
The sharing economy: Why people participate in collaborative consumptionasistdl.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Information and communications technologies (ICTs) have enabled the rise of so-called “Collaborative Consumption” (CC): the peer-to-peer-based activity of obtaining, giving, or sharing the access to goods and services, coordinated through community-based online services. CC has been expected to alleviate societal problems such as hyper-consumption, pollution, and poverty by lowering the cost of economic coordination within communities. However, beyond anecdotal evidence, there is a dearth of understanding why people participate in CC. Therefore, in this article we investigate people's motivations to participate in CC. The study employs survey data (N = 168) gathered from people registered onto a CC site. The results show that participation in CC is motivated by many factors such as its sustainability, enjoyment of the activity as well as economic gains. An interesting detail in the result is that sustainability is not directly associated with participation unless it is at the same time also associated with positive attitudes towards CC. This suggests that sustainability might only be an important factor for those people for whom ecological consumption is important. Furthermore, the results suggest that in CC an attitude-behavior gap might exist; people perceive the activity positively and say good things about it, but this good attitude does not necessary translate into action.
