In a world with a fast growing economy, ever-diminishing resources, overly populated cities, and sky rocketing prices, a sharing economy seems like the way to go. Also known as “shareconomy”, “collaborative consumption”, “collaborative economy”, or “peer economy” it is a market model of peer-to-peer exchange, typically facilitated by an online platform. Divided into five main sectors – transportation, finance, consumer goods, property, personal services, and professional services, shareconomies are popping up everywhere you look. Platforms like Airbnb and Uber are probably the most well known of their kind, but their European counterparts are not to be ignored.

Even though 80% of apps on my phone are shareconomy startups – I’m a regular user of e-scooter as well as car-sharing platforms to get around my city – there are many noticeable backlashes around the sharing economy – not to mention many permits, laws, legal debates that need to be had, and municipal laws haven’t been updated to deal with it. Remember what happened when Uber arrived in Barcelona? Better to not repeat that. So let’s look at some of the the pros and cons of sharing economies.