Policies for Shareable Cities. A SHARING ECONOMY POLICY PRIMER FOR URBAN LEADERS.

We believed that the sharing economy can democratize access to goods, services, and capital – in fact all the essentials that make for vibrant markets, commons, and neighborhoods. It’s an epoch shaping opportunity for sustainable urban development that can complement the legacy economy.

Resource sharing, peer production, and the free market can empower people to self-provision locally much of what they need to thrive. Yet we’ve learned that current U.S. policies often block resource sharing and peer production. For example, in many cities, laws do not allow the sale of home-grown vegetables to neighbors, donation-based ridesharing services, or short-

term room rentals. Even when legacy institutions are failing to serve, which is increasingly the case, citizens are not free to share with or produce for each other.

New policies are needed to unlock the 21st Century power of cities as engines of freedom, innovation and shared prosperity.

In 2011, we partnered with the Sustainable Economies Law Center (SELC) to publish a 15-part series on policies for shareable cities. It was the first published exploration of the topic. This primer is a culmination of that work.

Website of Shareable