Social sustainability as well as the reduction of resource use and emissions are effects that have been associated with the Sharing Economy (Daunoriene et al. 2015, Heinrichs, 2013, Martin, 2016). Recently, however, big sharing platforms (such as AirBnB or Uber) have been subject to critical debates as drivers of increasingly unsustainable levels of consumption and fostering anonymity instead of community.

This special issue solicits papers that explore opportunities and challenges of the Sharing Economy with regard to economic, social, and ecological sustainability. Observing a renewed interest in and growth of the Sharing Economy, a key question is, how and to what extent the upscaling of sharing business models can produce overall sustainable outcomes. In particular, we invite theoretical, empirical, practical and review papers, whether qualitative or quantitative, from researchers, practitioners, and policy-makers across disciplines on the following issues:

• How to leverage the potential of the Sharing Economy concerning ecological and/or social sustainability?
• To what extent are social/ecological sustainability and economic sustainability of sharing business models compatible?
• What are the potentials of digitalization for broadening the impact of sustainable sharing practices?
• What is the role of different actors – politics, business, civil society, individuals - in aligning sharing and sustainability objectives?
• How can regulation help to lead the sharing economy onto a sustainable trajectory? How can the potential of the sharing economy be utilized by city governments/administration and in the context of urban sustainability transitions?
• Platform-cooperativism, blockchain etc.: What are the potentials of new technological and organizational approaches to make sharing more sustainable?

These themes are only indicative.

The deadline for submissions is 15 June 2018. Accepted papers are expected to be published in 2019. Please consider the submission process information on page 2 of this document. All enquiries regarding the special issue should be sent to:
Palzkill@uni-wuppertal.de

Link to the call