Challenges & Opportunities of a Shared Economy in Melbourne

Darren Sharp|June 26, 2014March 4, 2019

I hosted the Sharing Economy Leaders Forum on Thursday 29th May at Henley Club Melbourne.

This event brought together 25 sharing innovators to discuss the vision for Melbourne to become a Sharing City, identify common opportunities and challenges, plus facilitate introductions and networking.

I created a Storify of the Melbourne event to document the #ShareFest tweets sent on the night.

To keep the conversation going I just started the Share Melbourne Facebook Group to serve as a discussion point for sharing organisations, people interested in sharing, community groups and partner organisations keen to facilitate sharing. Please join the group to stay connected and introduce yourself and let everyone know what you're working on. This page will become an important focal point for development of any future working group, the Sharing Cities Summit and other sharing projects.

Forum Reflections

I was so impressed by the energy and generosity of everyone who participated in the forum at Henley Club. It's clear there's serious momentum behind the local sharing economy and genuine interest in shaping the vision for Melbourne to become a Sharing City.

Participants told us the Sharing Economy matters to them for various reasons including:

sharing skills and knowledge;
decentralising power;
creating a fairer world;
reducing waste;
empowering people and groups;
building more resilient systems;
and strengthening communities

The hands-on part of the forum surfaced many challenges clustered into these themes:

Money & Ownership;
Culture of Organisations;
Evangelisation;
Culture;
and Institutional

The Opportunities fell into these clusters:

Social Change;
Better Together
Policy Blockages;
Smarter Resource Use;
Shared Ownership Models;
Strategic Cohesion;
Employment Alternatives;
and What Alignment Looks Like

I have captured the forum outputs in this Google doc and I encourage everyone to add their comments/reflections. These outputs will form an important basis for future discussions.

The forum outputs also demonstrate the diversity and complexity of the local sharing movement and mirror similar debates and conversations happening in other parts of the world, with a unique local take on things.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Darren Sharp | Twitter

Darren Sharp is a leading sharing economy strategist, consultant and researcher. As founding Director of Social Surplus he develops strategy and facilitates capacity-building using strength-based approaches including asset-based community development, appreciative inquiry and human-centred design. He works with a range of clients to design programs that amplify the strengths of people and communities through sharing and envision the transition to socially just and sustainable futures. Clients include the City of Melbourne, the SA Department of Premier and Cabinet, Local Government Association of SA, the University of Melbourne, the City of Boroondara, Infoxchange, the Municipal Association of Victoria, the Uniting Church in Australia and the City of Yarra. Darren is the Australian editor of Shareable, Melbourne coordinator of the Sharing Cities Network and co-authored the book Sharing Cities: Activating the Urban Commons which contains 137 case studies and policies that showcases how city residents around the world are using commons-based strategies to meet their needs in housing, food, transportation, work and energy. Darren is a global thought leader in urban futures, transformative social innovation, the urban commons and Sharing Cities. A sought after speaker and workshop facilitator, Darren has been invited to speak at the Platform Cooperativism conference (New York City), Melbourne Knowledge Week, Pivot Connect Geelong, Vivid Sydney, Open Source Open Society (Wellington), Innovative Ideas Forum (National Library Canberra), Raising the Bar and Melbourne Conversations. He is the convenor of the Platform Cooperativism Australia Working Group, co-founder of the Commons Transition Coalition, steering group member of the New Economy Network Australia, committee member of DESIS-Lab Melbourne, founding mentor of bHive Co-op and a Director of the Open Food Foundation. Darren is completing his PhD at Curtin University Sustainability Policy Institute where he is undertaking doctoral research on urban experiments for sustainability transitions funded by the CRC for Low Carbon Living. His latest research paper Sharing Cities for Urban Transformation is published in Urban Policy and Research. He lives with his wife and three kids in Melbourne, Australia. LinkedIn

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Darren Sharp | Twitter

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