Principal Investigator(s):
Thomas Fisher, Professor/Director, Metropolitan Design Center
Co-Investigators:
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Fernando Burga, Assistant Professor, Humphrey School of Public Affairs
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Mary Vogel, Senior Research Fellow, Center for Changing Landscapes
Project summary:
The sharing economy is a geo-locational one and often dependent upon digital mapping tools to identify the location of goods and the suppliers of services. And yet, relatively little work has been done to map the sharing economy itself and to understand why it happens in greater density or at greater frequency in some locations rather than others.
This project is mapping sharing economy opportunities in both an urban and rural context, identifying where sharing economy services have the greatest likelihood of success, what conditions are necessary to support it at a local level, and how this economic activity can benefit people who now rarely participate in it. The work is focused in two areas: urban and inner-ring suburban communities in Hennepin County and small cities in southeastern Minnesota that have largely not benefited from the sharing economy.