Sharing is Caring, Trust is Key

This post is part of our Age of Urban Tech discussion series, following the fifth edition of the New Cities Summit in Montréal in June 2016.

With seemingly exponential innovations in Urban Tech and urban planning, what opportunities exist to expand the “Sharing Economy” in our cities? Sharing is Caring, Trust is Key provided a snapshot of how entrepreneurs and intellectuals are creating connected sharing spaces. Panel moderator Neal Gorenflo remarked that Seoul, South Korea’s fast-paced expansion was followed by familiar symptoms including acute social isolation, pollution and a high cost of living. Gorenflo detailed how in addressing the problem, Seoul started a global movement through its sharing city program, with leaders beginning to view cities as platforms for sharing.

Muneeb Mushtaq has put many of the sharing economy’s aims into practice through his platform. As Mushtaq describes it, AskforTask is the “Uber for Services.” Mushtaq’s platform pairs “Askers,” those who seek everyday services, with “Taskers,” those who have signed up to fulfill those specific tasks. However, what sets AskforTask apart is that it facilitates encounters that deepen intra-community connections. As Mushtaq described it, “You are connecting with the individual, instead of calling the company and getting ‘their guy’, who you don’t talk to or know about.”

The panel also demonstrated how the sharing economy can manifest itself in a variety of unique scenarios, including through startups such as FoodCloud, a Global Urban Innovator. The social enterprise tackles the dilemma of urban food waste. Niamh Kirwan outlined how the sharing economy has impacted the food industry, with an increase in the number of community gardens, connection-based agriculture and, in the case of FoodCloud, volunteers joining the process for communitarian motives – not making profits. “It is about developing processes and platforms that build trust, but work for both people and are mutually beneficial,” she said. For Kirwan, food is a brilliant way to draw communities together, through donations to shelters and refuges, but also through outreach such as hosting barbecues and gatherings between local business and charities with the re-used food; a virtuous social cycle.

Ezra Suleiman sees great promise in the work of young and small companies such as AskforTask and FoodCloud and the contributions they make to the sharing economy. Suleiman did caution that some of the early sharing economy leaders, including Uber and Airbnb, are now wrapped in more traditional business models, and must also address the interests of their investors.

Still, Kirwan and others are optimistic about the direction of the sharing economy and look at how far it has come. She pointed out that just a decade ago, the idea of regularly inviting strangers to stay in your home was virtually unheard of and, in part thanks to Airbnb, it has become a common way for urban dwellers to experience cities.

Speakers

Niamh Kirwan, Marketing and Communications Manager, FoodCloud
Muneeb Mushtaq, Co-Founder & CEO, AskforTask Inc
Ezra Suleiman, Professor of Politics and IBM Professor of International Studies at Princeton University

Moderator: Neal Gorenflo, Co-Founder, Shareable