A new report out from San Francisco-based Sustainable Economies Law Center, along with the non-profit Shareable, lays out policy recommendations for cities based around the "sharing economy."
As
Next City points out, cities are the best places for the sharing economy to work, since we're so densely packed together anyway. "And it’s especially true as Americans lose faith in existing institutions. Every time a Washington Mutual fails, it starts to make the local credit union on the corner look like an intriguing option. Every food scare from China makes you more inclined to look your tomato’s grower in the eye down at the farmers’ market on Sunday."
The report makes a number of policy recommendations, some based on things cities have already implemented. For example, the report says that cities should designate some parking spaces exclusively for carsharing, particularly near transit or multi-unit housing. D.C. didn't do that exactly, but it is called out as innovative for its blended carsharing parking approach: the city began offering free parking spaces to carsharing operators in 2005, and later auctioned off another 84 for $300,000 in revenue to the city.
Cities should also make "slugging," or informal carpooling, more robust. Anyone who's walked down K Street around afternoon rush hour has seen how robust D.C.'s slugging program already is.
Unsurprisingly, the report also makes recommendations about expanding bikeshare programs, funding kitchen incubators, and allowing accessory dwelling units (ADUs), all of which are either happening or in the works in the District.
Read the whole report below, or get it on
Shareable.com:
Policies for Shareable Cities