This report provides key evidence supporting the potential growth of Vancouver’s sharing economy, and valuable information for entrepreneurs and grassroots organizers who are looking to develop new platforms for sharing.
2011 saw the opening of the Vancouver Tool Library (VTL), a non-profit cooperative dedicated to the lending and borrowing of tools (mostly power and garden tools). The VTL quickly became part of a growing group of sharing organizations in Vancouver, British Columbia. Some of these organizations, like Modo the Car Co-Op and the Vancouver Public Library, had been around for decades, while others such as The Hive and the Vancouver Trade School were relatively new.
Download The Sharing Project: A report on sharing in Vancouver
As one of the founders of the VTL, Chris Diplock was eager to see Vancouver’s sharing economy flourish. With so many different models and definitions of sharing, Chris felt that there wasn’t a complete and clear understanding of what sharing meant to Vancouverites or of the different types of activities happening within Vancouver’s sharing economy. To address this knowledge gap he created The Sharing Project, a research project to measure and understand sharing activities and attitudes in Vancouver.
The Sharing Project has been researching sharing in Vancouver to provide community leaders with the knowledge needed to help facilitate an increased demand for sharing in the city. This research aimed to:
- Understand Vancouverites’ definitions, reservations and attitudes toward sharing.
- Measure the demand for shared physical objects and spaces in Vancouver.
- Highlight potential opportunities to grow Vancouver’s sharing economy.
Contents
Introduction
Methodology
Findings
How We Define Sharing
What We Currently Share
Where We Share
Trends In Sharing
Borrowing
Lending
Opportunities
