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This study develops an analytical framework for municipal governance of the sharing economy. It comprises five governance mechanisms (regulating, providing, enabling, self-governing and collaborating) and 11 governance roles. The purpose of this article is twofold: to explore municipal governance mechanisms and roles for engaging with sharing economy organisations and to propose a comprehensive analytical framework.
The sharing economy has been growing for over a decade, particularly triggered and enabled by the rapid digitalisation. Many municipalities around the globe are taking a lead in the work on UN Sustainable Development Goals through novel ideas that hold a potential to address urban sustainability challenges, including ‘˜sharing economy’ , ‘˜smart cities’ and ‘˜circular economy’ .
According to the authors, many municipalities face challenges, as the sharing economy municipal governance mechanisms are poorly understood. At the same time, the academic understanding remains poor.
This framework is based on insights from the interdisciplinary field of sharing cities: urban policy and planning studies that investigate municipal responses to SEOs. It discusses literature on urban sustainability transitions and gathers empirical data from municipal governance of the sharing economy in its three domains (accommodation, mobility and physical goods sharing) in seven global cities: Amsterdam, Berlin, Gothenburg, London, Malmö, Toronto and San Francisco.
The framework that is proposed in this study offers a holistic classification of mechanisms and roles of municipal governance relating to the sharing economy. In addition to its academic value, the framework has value for urban policy and planning, as it can help municipalities navigate the governance complexity and become more agile when engaging with SEOs. The framework is intended to provide novel insights to both scholarly and policy debate on governing the sharing economy.
You can find the article here.