Urban Sharing in Toronto

“Urban Sharing in Toronto” explores the landscape of the sharing economy in the city context. This research is a result of a Mobile Research Lab conducted by 8 researchers from Lund university in 2019. Specific focus is on three sectors: sharing of space, mobility and physical goods. For each sector, we discuss the drivers and barriers to the sharing economy, the associated sustainability impacts, the potential impacts on incumbent sectors, and the institutional context of sharing. Then, attention is turned to the role of the city council in engaging with the sharing economy and specific governance mechanisms employed by the city council are described.

Since the sharing economy is not sustainable by default, urban sharing organisations, city governments and incumbents all have important roles to play in ensuring that the sharing economy positively impacts cities and their citizens. In the face of negative perceptions and possible impacts of the sharing economy, we may need to be more deliberate in thinking in terms of scaling the sharing economy to the size, needs, and capacities of cities. In this report we provide five recommendations to the City of Toronto and its citizens.

Insights contained within this report may support the City of Toronto and other Sharing Cities, as well as urban sharing organisations and third-party actors in Toronto and beyond in their strategic work with the sharing economy for sustainability.