Platforms, Scales and Networks: Meshing a Local Sustainable Sharing Economy

Abstract

The Bsharing economy^has promised more sustainable use of the world's finite resources, exploiting latency and promoting renting rather than ownership through digital networks. But do the digital brokers that use networks at global scale offer the same care for the planet as more traditional forms of sharing? We contrast the sustainability of managing idle capacity with the merits of collective local agency bred by caring-based sharing in a locality. Drawing on two studies of neighbourhood sharing in London and analysis of the meshing of local sharing initiatives, we ask how 'relational assets' form and build up over time in a neighbourhood, and how a platform of platforms might act as local socio-technical infrastructure to sustain alternative economies and different models of trust to those found in the scaling sharing economy. We close by proposing digital networks of support for local solidarity and resourcefulness, showing how CSCW knowledge on coordination and collaboration has a role in achieving these ends.

Mechanisms Implantation Of Intellectual Clusters In The Structure Of The Economy

“…This requires reforms of the economic mechanism, innovative management methods, changing the direction of the technical and economic mechanism, overcoming its inertial nature, focusing on improving quality https://doi.org/10. 15405/epsbs.2021.06.03.68 Corresponding Author: Tatyana Grigoryevna Krasota Selection and peer-review under Functioning technology platforms, thanks to flexible logistics, have high opportunities for sustainable and effective economic interaction with various spheres and territories (Light & Miskelly, 2019).…”

Is the Meaning of the “Sharing Economy” Shared Among Us? Comparing the Perspectives of Japanese and Swedish Researchers

“…Most theoretical papers with no or little focus on any particular empirical setting tended to focus on the concept of the sharing economy per se. Such research discussed other things such as “the commons” [ 37 ], the concept of “sharing” [ 38 – 40 ], the conceptualisation of sharing-economy roles [ 41 ], sharing-economy futures [ 42 – 45 ], the sustainability of the sharing economy [ 46 , 47 ], cultural barriers and enablers [ 48 , 49 ], and caring platforms [ 50 , 51 ].…”

Sharing & Cooperativism: Designing For Economies

“…A recent turn in design [10] sets the expectation that designers take responsibility for bringing the political economy to designers' attention by asking who will benefit, and how to take measures to address the problems of ecology and inequality caused by profligate development. As an example, a small body of work on sharing and cooperativism within HCI shows the potential for new systems, platforms, and ecologies to harness social and ecological sustainability, as well as trust in platforms and communities [1,4,5,6,9]. These can be related to design decisions, and to the importance of designers taking a stance and shouldering responsibility [10].…”

“…In this workshop, we will engage with sharing as a collaborative economic strategy for managing resources by borrowing, lending, or collectively owning, acting, and using [9]. By placing alternative economic models and related design propositions to the center [8], we aim to explore three central aspects of sharing and cooperativism: (1) Local & relational assets of sharing; (2) Global principles of sharing cultures; and (3) Designing beyond markets.…”