Sharing cities and citizens sharing: Perceptions and practices in Milan

Abstract Sharing economy is envisaged as an opportunity for economic, social and environmental impact, by enabling people to maximize the idling capacity of their assets. The key change of the contemporary trend regards the boundaries and types of connections that sharing economy is reshaping. The phenomenon is evident at urban scale, where digitally literate citizens may benefit from being connected through online platforms to strangers and their assets. Nevertheless, the integration of sharing in urban routines is influenced by individual perceptions, social practices and local dynamics. This paper introduces insights from a participatory process for the development of sharing urban services in the demonstration area of Milan ‘Sharing City’. Local citizens and stakeholders were engaged in workshops, focus groups and roundtables intended to mapping, understanding and assessing sharing services for daily practices (especially mobility, food provision and waste management, energy efficiency and the environment, social inclusion). This participatory process provided nuanced feedback on sharing, raising issues related to how such initiatives are known, perceived, used and integrated in their routines. This paper describes the most relevant themes emerged throughout the participatory process, to infer that sharing implies the negotiation of multitude elements, most notably citizens’ digital literacy, convenience, trust, social interactions.