70 global cities are working together to develop specific actions to deal with the challenges and opportunities of the platform economy
The platform economy is a form of economic development based on interactions among distributed groups of people supported by digital platforms. This economy is growing exponentially and has become a key priority of governments around the world. The disruptive impact of the best-known cases, such as Airbnb or Uber, has generated a great deal of public controversy. Socially responsible platforms also exist, but they have received less attention.
In 2018, Barcelona hosted the 3rd Sharing Cities Summit, with the first two being held in Amsterdam (2016) and New York City (2017). Nearly 50 cities gathered together and a Declaration of Common Principles and Commitments for Sharing Cities was launched. Barcelona committed itself to establishing a task force office to support the Declaration, aimed at fostering collaboration among cities to develop specific actions to deal with the challenges and opportunities of the platform economy.
Sharing Cities Action was born in 2019 as the result of this commitment, a global collaboration between cities to ensure city sovereignty, to promote socio-economic development, to collaborate in the regulation of and negotiations with platforms, to defend and adapt labour and digital rights, and to promote public innovation, criteria for platform differentiation and the promotion of platforms with a positive impact, among others.
This task force office is a joint collaboration between Barcelona City Council and Dimmons-UOC, and it is open to all the participant cities of the Sharing Cities Summits, as well as any other city interested in these topics.
As a result of the actions developed during the year 2019, the Sharing Cities Action network has expanded. Specifically, communication has moved beyond the 50 cities who were part of the Barcelona Sharing Cities Summit 2018 to encompass 67 cities from 36 different countries:
Almere, Amsterdam, Athens, Atlanta, Barcelona, Berlin, Bethlehem, Bilbao, Bologna, Bordeaux, Bristol, Buenos Aires, Brussels, Città Metropolitana di Catania, Corunna, Eindhoven, El Prat de Llobregat, Fez, Ghent, Gothenburg, Grenoble, Kobe, Krakow, Lisbon, Madrid, Malmo, Maribor, Melbourne, Milan, Montelíbano, Montreal, Montreuil, Moscow, Munich, Neapoli-Sykies, Muscat, Naples, New York City, Paris, Porto, Prague, Reykjavík, Rijswijk, Rotterdam, San Francisco, Santiago de Compostela, São Paulo, Seoul, Singapore, Stockholm, Sydney, Taipei, Tallinn, Terrassa, The Hague, Thessaloniki, Toronto, Turin, Umea, Utrecht, Valencia, Vienna, Vilnius, Vitoria, Warsaw, Wrocław and Zagreb.
