Sharing economy and the city

Sharing economy is a very broad term, covering various areas and forms of human activity. It includes activities of individuals, social groups, and enterprises, as well as local and state authorities, which aim to enable, facilitate, or even organize the sharing of resources. Sharing economy has an increasing importance and is accompanied by large-scale changes of revolutionary character embodied in innovative thinking. In this paper, a multidimensional assessment of the sharing economy from the perspective of various groups of stakeholders is undertaken. In order to analyze this phenomenon in more depth, the analyzed field of sharing economy has been narrowed subjectively (to the sphere of operations of for-profit corporations from this sector) and territorially (to the area of cities, as special places attracting sharing economy start-ups). The analysis has found that although the idea of sharing creates new opportunities, it also causes new challenges for cities’ functioning and development, especially when considering the influence of large sharing economy companies on other stakeholders. The findings also show that not only does sharing economy have an uneven impact on the functioning of different cities but it also has heterogeneous consequences for different groups of stakeholders in the same city.