An environmental social scientist at The University of
Manchester, Dr Chris Martin, has described the duo of Uber and Airbnd as new
model way of building a sustainable society, reports NaijaAgroNet.
He also said that this new form of consumption could be
rolled out to bolster the sustainability of other day-to-day functions
including production, education, banking and transport and further described
the Silicon Valley success stories like Uber and Airbnb as paving the way to a
more sustainable global society.
The ‘sharing economy’ model, he said, has seen a boom in the
collaborative use of services, which has come under criticism for disrupting traditional
and independent business activity.
Dr. Martin contended that it is bad for business in his new
paper, The sharing economy: a pathway to sustainability or a nightmarish
form of neoliberal capitalism? published online in the journal Ecological
Economics this week, that radically decentralising economic activity and
allowing people shared access to services and resources is more than just an
economic opportunity for big business and an employment solution for governments.
“This decentralised, online model of economic activity has
significant sustainability potential but it is currently being overlooked by
big players who are focused on the commercial aspects,” he declared, explaining
that the potential, and the appetite, for a sharing economy promotes social
sustainability, in addition to environmental sustainability and economic
growth.
“The core ideas and technologies behind Airbnb and Uber
could also be used to empower citizens and civic society to participate in
previously centralised activities, be that more open education, car-pooling or
microfinance models in place of traditional banking,” Martins said.
For him, the taxi giant Uber and holiday rental firm Airbnb are
at the tip of the sharing economy iceberg, underscoring that policy-makers,
innovators and entrepreneurs need to look beyond the idea of ‘sharing’ just
service industries. Rather, they could focus on exploiting the potential of the
sharing economy to reduce overall consumption and create a more equitable,
sustainable economy and society.
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