Implementing Sharing Economy on a Local Governance Level : A Case Study from Uppsala Municipality

With an expanded increase in consumption and production in the last decades, the Western societies’ unsustainable way of living has started to have a destructive effect on the planet. Energy use and greenhouse gas emissions linked to production and waste control in societies can be reduced immensely with fewer goods. Through the sharing economy, goods, materials and services can be utilized to the fullest, decreasing the need for more production of raw materials. Sharing has both practical and economic gain for the consumer, the community and the environment. The aim of this research is to analyze and map the present state of sharing economy within Uppsala Municipality and evaluate how to adopt and implement sharing economy from the governance perspective of Uppsala. In this case study, a document analysis, a survey and interviews are used as analytical tools to answer the three research questions; what sharing economy practices and strategies are to be found within Uppsala Municipality; which are the identified drivers, barriers and attitude towards sharing economy within the public sector of Uppsala and how sharing economy platforms and services can be implemented in Uppsala Municipality. The results show that while some sharing economy practices and strategies can be found within Uppsala Municipality, there are no clear guidelines to be found on how to work with sharing economy. The public sector is positive towards a sharing economy and wants to see more sharing alternatives. In their opinion, the main drivers to sharing economy are saving on resources, economy and energy, while the main barriers are time consumption, uncertainty in who should be responsible for these services and complication in implementation. Finally, a shared knowledge and definition on sharing economy, a justification on why sharing economy should be implemented and a collaboration where every stakeholder finds their place in the projects seem to be the main premise of implementing sharing economy on a local governance level.