Stadslab2050 - Delende Stad (Sharing city)

City of Antwerp wants to accelerate the sustainable sharing economy

By mobilising unused goods and services, the sharing economy can contribute to the sustainable city of the future. For example, one drilling machine can suffice to serve 6 households. The benefit to the environment therefore lies in the materials that are not needed to produce the 5 other drills. The sharing economy is mainly taking place in cities, where many people and goods come together.

With the project 'The Sharing City', we investigated the contribution of a sharing economy to the development of a sustainable city and what our role as a city could be. Under the guidance of Stadslab2050, the urban innovation lab on sustainability, three partners each set up a pilot project:

Samenlevingsopbouw Antwerpen Stad explored the potential of sharing materials and services for socially vulnerable groups. They went to work with the sharing of books at the school gate. Can the sharing economy contribute to new forms of solidarity?

Antwerp Management School showed that companies and organisations are also taking steps towards an urban sharing economy. Their brand-new campus and shared bicycle parking on the Mechelse Plein were the reason to start looking for shared profits together with the neighbourhood.

And what if the urban organisation itself started to share? With a centralisation of services on the agenda, the City Management Department of the city of Antwerp examined how sharing fits into its operations.