Clients: Gemeente Haarlem, Jyvaskyla, Saint Quentin, Sia Habitat, Familjebostader, Ujbuda
Date: December 2023
Location(s): The Netherlands, Sweden, France, Finland
Bax’s Circular and Sharing Economy team has developed an acceleration programme for cities and housing providers to be introduced to the sharing economy. Across seven interactive sessions, participants were introduced to the vision behind the sharing economy, planning considerations for shared city design, and practical implementation advice from leading providers.
The average person in Western Europe is estimated to own 10,000+ goods. 80% of them are used less than once a month. Many items spend almost their entire lifetimes gathering dust. A drill for example, is used for an average of 12 minutes in its lifetime. As cities look to develop circular models of operating, we need new ways to access our goods – including models that don’t rely on unproductive ownership. Sharing models is one potential solution – and one that can solve far more than material challenges, creating communal and community-spirited ways to access goods.
Approach
To help cities and housing providers develop an approach to the sharing economy, Bax’s Circular and Sharing Economy team developed an acceleration programmein collaboration with leading shared solution providers. The four-week course covered the European landscape for sharing, business models for deployment of shared solutions, and governance models for sharing.
Impact
Participants finished the acceleration programme with a clear action plan for sharing, an assessment of their readiness to deploy, a business model canvas for sharing and connections with other cities in Europe leading on sharing.
Impressive content, great exercises to go from theory to practice and engaged leadership from course leaders.
– Acceleration Programme city participant
In Europe, we consume too much and engage within our community too little. The sharing economy is a practical way to change that. Through the deployment of sharing stations, peer-to-peer sharing and libraries of things, we can nurture circular cities that share more and waste less. Our Acceleration Programme is designed as the first step for any city or housing provider to plan their way to a sharing society.
– Sami Angsthelm, Innovation Consultant
