Report: An Overview of Public Policies of the Sharing Economy by Cities

This report is part of the Sharing Cities Action task force, a programme promoted by Barcelona City Council and the Open University of Catalonia. It provides an overview of the public policies carried out by cities regarding the challenges and opportunities opened up by the Sharing Economy. That is the collaborative consumption and production of capital and labour among distributed groups supported by a digital platform.

The report starts with an analysis of cities conceptions and approaches regarding sharing economy definition, its challenges and opportunities, and criteria used to differentiate platforms. Afterwards, it goes on to provide a descriptive analysis of cities’ main goals and policy interventions. There, it pays special attention to gender and inclusive policy interventions. Thirdly, it studies the different particularities of policy design processes, focusing on government structure, participatory methodologies, collaborations among cities, and connections between different stakeholders and cities administrations. Lastly, it develops an analysis of cities’ typology regarding their reactions towards Sharing Economy. That is, how far they engage with four governance dimensions: the city as a monitor, as a regulator, as a promoter, and as a collaborator.