nCa Report
CORDIS (Community Research and Development Information Service) is the European Commission’s primary public repository and portal to disseminate information on all European Union funded research projects and their results in the broadest sense.
Cordis-EC
Here is the take of CORDIS on sharing economy:
Understanding the role of governance in the sharing economy
A team of researchers is analysing how the sharing economy affects the sustainability of cities and their development.
Need a taxi? Chances are you’ll use your smartphone app rather than hail a cab. Travelling and looking for accommodation? Online platforms provide you with access to hundreds of listings in almost any destination city. This is possible thanks to the changing consumer behaviour that allows people to share their homes, cars, clothes, household appliances and even dogs with strangers.
Collectively referred to with terms such as sharing economy, peer-to-peer economy and collaborative consumption, and often used interchangeably despite having different meanings, these economic phenomena are increasingly affecting our lives.
Providing innovative solutions to sustainability challenges in crowded cities, the urban sharing of assets is thriving, with city governments also playing a role. But how do city governments engage with the sharing economy? Which governance mechanisms do they employ?
These are some of the questions addressed by researchers who are developing a framework to identify the mechanisms and roles in which cities govern the sharing economy. Partially supported by the EU-funded Urban Sharing project, the researchers looked at six cities: Amsterdam, Berlin, Gothenburg, London, Malmö and San Francisco.
In an article posted on news, action and connection hub ‘Shareable’, Dr Yuliya Voytenko Palgan from Lund University says the research team “conducted about 100 interviews with city government officials, politicians, urban developers, sharing economy organisations, knowledge institutes and think tanks.”
She adds: “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.”
Role of city governments
The research results are disseminated through 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.”
The introductory video is posted on YouTube. The team hopes that the videos “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.”
The ongoing Urban Sharing (Urban Sharing: Sustainability and Institutionalisation Pathways) project that supported the research “aims to examine, test and advance knowledge about urban sharing organisations (USOs) across 5 cities from 5 continents: Amsterdam, Toronto, São Paolo, Seoul and Melbourne by undertaking a novel multi- and inter-disciplinary study,” as noted on CORDIS.
The project focuses on the design of USOs and their sustainability impacts, as well as their institutionalisation pathways. It uses various methods such as case studies, mobile research labs, interviews and expert panels.
The project website states: “Urban sharing is a growing global phenomenon with the potential to dramatically impact the current economic paradigm and enhance sustainability in cities.” It adds that “the lack of evidence to support the sustainability promises and the limited theoretical understanding of their institutionalisation pathways in different urban contexts, calls for a comprehensive analysis of urban sharing organisations and urban sharing phenomenon.”
For more information, please see: Urban Sharing project website
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The total value of the global sharing economy has been predicted to increase to 794 billion U.S. dollars by 2031, up from 150 billion U.S. dollars in 2023. This has translated to a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 32 percent. [Statista, 11 April 2024]
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In Central Asia, Uzbekistan is the first country to start preparing a strategy for the developmentofthe sharing economy until 2030. At the same time, there are proposals to create a communication system that unites tenants and property owners.
Uzdaily reported on 4 June 2024 that the Agency for Strategic Reforms has studied the development of the sharing economy. In order to accelerate modern reforms in the service sector and further diversify the economy, the Agency for Strategic Reforms studied the issue of introducing a sharing economy model in the republic.
The relevance of this model today is closely related to the share of the “shadow economy” in Uzbekistan, the aggravation of environmental problems in the region and the growth of a consumer society among the population of Uzbekistan.
According to the Uzbek researchers, the sharing economy model has the following advantages:
- First, this model reduces overall consumption and costs for consumers. The sharing economy maximizes the utility of existing goods and services, reduces the need for continuous production and consumption of new goods, and helps to use resources efficiently by minimizing waste, making a significant contribution to environmental sustainability. Participants in the sharing economy can rent goods or services for a certain period at a lower price than when purchasing.
- Secondly, it stimulates innovative ideas and creates new jobs. The implementation of sharing economy models often leads to the emergence of innovative business ideas and the development of new technologies and platforms. New platforms allow participants to use goods or services when and how they want.
- Third, it allows people to monetize unused assets. Citizens will be able to receive an additional source of income and effectively use their assets by renting out their own real estate.
The Uzdaily report says that today, the largest sharing economy market in the world is the United States, where more than 86 million people regularly use this type of consumer service, accounting for 45 percent of the global share.
The size of the sharing economy in Russia is 1.07 trillion rubles (1.2% of GDP), and in China – 230 billion dollars or 1.67% of the country’s GDP.
Based on the promising opportunities of the sharing economy, it is proposed to implement the following measures in Uzbekistan:
- Development of a Strategy for the Development of the Sharing Economy until 2030. At the same time, create a communication system that unites tenants and property owners.
- Strengthen legal guarantees for the protection of property rights between organizations and tenants. For example, creating a system of short-term rentals without notarization and registration of property.
- Development of modern infrastructure in cities and regions for the sharing economy, including, for example, car sharing and bike sharing .
- Financial support for the sharing economy. Wide attraction of preferential grants, investment venture programs and subsidy programs for start-ups and innovative business ideas.
- Develop a policy for protecting and ensuring the confidentiality of data of participants in the sharing economy.
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Sooner or later, perhaps sooner, the other countries in Central Asia would need to formalize the sharing economy and define the role of the government and responsibilities of all parties in a sharing economy relationship.
The framework regulations should cover at least the following:
- The legal protection of all parties in sharing economy.
- The mechanism for identifying and evaluating any damages or losses during a sharing economy activity, the means for assigning the responsibility, and the enforcement of damages or compensations. This would perhaps require a sharing economy court at the district or city level.
- The system for mandatory group insurance, including medical insurance.
- The self-financing pension plans for participants of sharing economy. /// nCa, 25 June 2024 [CONCLUDED]