scaffolding sharing spaces: sharing beyond the sharing economy

NUS-Tsinghua-DPA Joint Studio Workshop 2

SCAFFOLDING SHARING SPACES Sharing beyond the Sharing Economy

Dr Jeffrey Chan Kok Hui Assistant Professor, Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, Singapore University of Technology

Dr Zhang Ye Assistant Professor, Department of Architecture, National University of Singapore

A scepticism on the Sharing Economy

Are corporations such as Airbnb or Uber service providers, where due obligations to labour rights, safety standards and social responsibility apply? or Are they merely digital platforms free from all these obligations?

The Sharing Economy redefined as a ‘platform economy’ (Schor & Attwood-Charles, 2017 ): merely proliferating substandard work, exacerbated the risk of work-related hazards and inequality.

Schor, J.B. & Attwood-Charles, W. (2017). The “sharing” economy: labor, inequality, and social connection on for-profit platforms. Sociology Compass. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/soc4.12493 Source of image: https://www.amazon.com/Whats-Yours-Mine-Against-Sharing/dp/1944869379

Impacts of the Sharing Economy Positive impacts

For-profit sharing platforms are not without positive social impacts; In this way, sharing is neither necessarily for-profit nor only market-driven.

Negative impacts Non-profit sharing practices may also impose negative social and spatial impacts In this way, sharing can neither be sustained nor cultivated.

Source of image: https://www.connectedtoindia.com/chinese-firm-mobike-enters-singapores-bike-sharing-market-953.html

Key questions 1. Why should architects be interested in sharing today?

2. Why is space important to the design of sharing?

3. Why do we need to specifically design sharing?

4. What are the different levels of sharing design?

5. What are the key distinctions relevant for the design of sharing?

1. Why should architects be interested in sharing today?

Sustainability

Conservation of resources that would otherwise be used for new production of commodities.

Inequality An increasingly large group will be deprived of access and enjoyment of certain services, goods, and spaces.

Social shift A wider social shift from ownership to collaborative consumption (Benjaafar et al., 2018).

This is the moment to think about how to design for sharing.

Benjaafar, S., Kong, G., Li, X., & Courcoubetis, C. (2018). Peer-to-peer product sharing: Implication for ownership, usage, and social welfare in the Sharing Economy. Management Science. doi: 10.1287/mnsc.2017.2970

2. Why is space important to the design of sharing?

Factors for considerations: - Space is by nature a “shareable good� (Benkler 2004) - Space is presumed as the context in all sharing practices in the city - Spatial proximity and spatial configuration are among the key conditions that can generate sharing practices (Widlok, 2017, p. 17) Hypotheses: (A) Configuration of physical space imposes impacts on sharing; (B) Conversely, sharing practices impacts spaces, which in turn may influence further sharing.

Benkler, Y. (2004). Sharing nicely: On shareable goods and the emergence of sharing as a modality of economic production. The Yale Law Journal, vol.114, no.2, pp. 273-358.

Source of image: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Poster-of-the-scenario-of-Moseley-and-Kings-Heath-as-a-sharing-city_fig4_303541751

Widlok, T. (2017). Anthropology and the economy of sharing. New York, NY: Routledge

If sharing is fundamentally defined as enabling others to access what is valued, then sharing space in the city has to at least entail the following three primary scales of spatial access:

Three scales of sharing space Urban Sharing Occur at the scale of a city; widely-distributed (or dispersed) in operation; affect urban spaces, and conversely, constrained by urban topography Sharing a living space

Occur on a domestic scale; entails agreeing and committing to share spaces; is likely to transform spatial configurations

Shared social space Occur at the scale of a community; practiced in the discrete form of an organization; emerging typology

3. Why do we need to specifically design sharing?

People sharing things does not presuppose either sociality or positive relations, and this fact alone does not guarantee redistribution of resources. (Davies & Evans, 2018) Sharing is usually not reciprocal. One party benefits at the expense of another party (Widlok, 2017).

How can designers create more reciprocal sharing?

Designers can address negative impacts, and enhance positive qualities.

Davies, A., & Evans, D. (2018). Urban food sharing: Emerging geographies of production, consumption and exchange. Geoforum. doi:10.1016/j.geoforum.2018.11.015 Widlok, T. (2017). Anthropology and the economy of sharing. New York, NY: Routledge Source of image: https://arizonawholesalesupply.com/product/whirlpool-washers/

4. What are the different levels of sharing design?

Level 1: merely supports or to initiate a sharing practice; does not aim to improve sharing but only to spark it.

Level 2: aims to facilitate or even improve sharing by promoting sociality, trust and goodwill; may engage the design of peripheral programs and spaces to reinforce sharing practices Level 3: aims to transform the sharing practice into a community based on collaboration, which resembles a commons where resources are generated, shared and maintained by all.

Source of image: https://sf.funcheap.com/noisebridge-time-travel-10th-anniversary-ball-fundraiser-mission-dist/

4. What are the different levels of sharing design?

Questions: Why is the knowledge of L1, 2 & 3 sharing useful for designers?

5. What are the key distinctions relevant for the design of sharing?

Sharing as the primary outcome of design versus sharing as the means to some other defined outcomes of design.

To design for involuntary sharing is different from to design for voluntary sharing. The former is transactional, while the latter is transformational (Ede, 2014)

Design for sharing that get people to share more. i.e. altruism, versus design for sharing that aims to amplify the positive side and after effects

Ede, S. (2014). Transactional Sharing, Transformational Sharing. http://postgrowth.org/transactional-sharing-transformational-sharing-2/

Source of image: https://blogs.griffith.edu.au/institute-for-tourism/smart-and-sustainable/rideshare-bicycles-in-china/

NUS-Tsinghua-DPA Joint Studio Workshop 2

SCAFFOLDING SHARING SPACES Sharing beyond the Sharing Economy

Dr Jeffrey Chan Kok Hui Assistant Professor, Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, Singapore University of Technology

Dr Zhang Ye Assistant Professor, Department of Architecture, National University of Singapore