If you’re like most Americans, chances are you spend less than an hour per day driving. If you’re a car owner, that means your vehicle spends those other 23 hours rusting away in a parking garage or a side street.
What if, instead of spending money on something that will spend most of its time unused, you could share that vehicle among multiple people, increasing the amount of time the car spends on the road while spending a fraction of the original cost?
That’s the mindset behind the “sharing economy.” The sharing economy is a movement of peer-to-peer access and exchange of goods. Sounds broad? It is - from cars to chores, from renting a room to cleaning a house, entire industries have been disrupted by the sharing economy - and as technology continues to evolve, new sharing economies will emerge.
The Basics
At its simplest, the term “sharing economy” refers to an economic structure that emphasizes the collaborative ownership of goods and focuses on community health over individual achievement.
A classic example of the sharing economy is a neighborhood coming together to purchase a large tool like a lawn mower or a power drill. The tool is expensive and not used very often, and sharing ownership spreads the financial burden across multiple parties while spreading the benefits of ownership across the entire neighborhood.
Classic American ideals of independence, ownership and self-reliance once pushed interdependence and collaboration by the wayside. However, the sharing economy has grown in popularity in recent years as many in society become disillusioned with the inequality and poverty that is produced by consumerism and “keeping up with the Joneses.”
Switching from a tradition consumer economy to a sharing economy has many benefits, including:
As the sharing economy grows, these benefits will become more numerous and widespread.
Technology’s Role in The Sharing Economy
The growth of the sharing economy is linked to explosive spread of technology through modern societies.
In the early days of the internet, a lot of computer code was open source - available to anyone who was interested. This model of information sharing encouraged innovation and improvement, leading to massive technological gains in a short amount of time.
Today, organizations are applying the same concept to industries from information to transportation.
Prominent examples of businesses growing in the sharing economy are AirBNB and Zipcar. AirBNB allows homeowners to rent out an unused room or building to visitors and vacationers, allowing inhabitants to capitalize on unused space while providing travellers a budget-friendly alternative to hotels.
ZipCar provides a budget-friendly alternative to car ownership. Members of the service can reserve shared vehicles for specific hours or days.
Urban Array and the Sharing Economy
Urban Array invests in the sharing economy to incentivize volunteerism and build strong community bonds.
Urban Array uses technology to connect individuals and enterprises to processes and tools to develop communities and build sustainable businesses.
Urban Array encourages these strong, community-driven pursuits by building a network of organizations that promote positive social impact on people or the environment. This network, orchestrated and coordinated through Urban Array’s technology platform, plugs these organizations into an ecosystem than provide benefits for both the enterprises and those who volunteer their time and services.
These benefits are the bedrock of the Urban Array sharing economy. When individuals or organizations volunteer time or resources to an Urban Array venture, they join a network of shared resources and benefits.
Moving Forward
Technology has empowered the sharing economy like never before. From ride-share apps like Uber and Lyft to home-sharing businesses like AirBNB, tech has become a catalyst for a redistribution of wealth, power and ownership.
Organizations like Urban Array are using technology and passionate change-makers to shape a future that is more sustainable and equitable for everyone, with strong communities and a vibrant sharing economy.
What if, instead of spending money on something that will spend most of its time unused, you could share that vehicle among multiple people, increasing the amount of time the car spends on the road while spending a fraction of the original cost?
That’s the mindset behind the “sharing economy.” The sharing economy is a movement of peer-to-peer access and exchange of goods. Sounds broad? It is - from cars to chores, from renting a room to cleaning a house, entire industries have been disrupted by the sharing economy - and as technology continues to evolve, new sharing economies will emerge.
The Basics
At its simplest, the term “sharing economy” refers to an economic structure that emphasizes the collaborative ownership of goods and focuses on community health over individual achievement.
A classic example of the sharing economy is a neighborhood coming together to purchase a large tool like a lawn mower or a power drill. The tool is expensive and not used very often, and sharing ownership spreads the financial burden across multiple parties while spreading the benefits of ownership across the entire neighborhood.
Classic American ideals of independence, ownership and self-reliance once pushed interdependence and collaboration by the wayside. However, the sharing economy has grown in popularity in recent years as many in society become disillusioned with the inequality and poverty that is produced by consumerism and “keeping up with the Joneses.”
Switching from a tradition consumer economy to a sharing economy has many benefits, including:
- Improving an individual environmental footprint by cutting down on consumption and waste
- Strengthening communities through collaboration and sharing
- Making expensive resources widely available
As the sharing economy grows, these benefits will become more numerous and widespread.
Technology’s Role in The Sharing Economy
The growth of the sharing economy is linked to explosive spread of technology through modern societies.
In the early days of the internet, a lot of computer code was open source - available to anyone who was interested. This model of information sharing encouraged innovation and improvement, leading to massive technological gains in a short amount of time.
Today, organizations are applying the same concept to industries from information to transportation.
Prominent examples of businesses growing in the sharing economy are AirBNB and Zipcar. AirBNB allows homeowners to rent out an unused room or building to visitors and vacationers, allowing inhabitants to capitalize on unused space while providing travellers a budget-friendly alternative to hotels.
ZipCar provides a budget-friendly alternative to car ownership. Members of the service can reserve shared vehicles for specific hours or days.
Urban Array and the Sharing Economy
Urban Array invests in the sharing economy to incentivize volunteerism and build strong community bonds.
Urban Array uses technology to connect individuals and enterprises to processes and tools to develop communities and build sustainable businesses.
Urban Array encourages these strong, community-driven pursuits by building a network of organizations that promote positive social impact on people or the environment. This network, orchestrated and coordinated through Urban Array’s technology platform, plugs these organizations into an ecosystem than provide benefits for both the enterprises and those who volunteer their time and services.
These benefits are the bedrock of the Urban Array sharing economy. When individuals or organizations volunteer time or resources to an Urban Array venture, they join a network of shared resources and benefits.
Moving Forward
Technology has empowered the sharing economy like never before. From ride-share apps like Uber and Lyft to home-sharing businesses like AirBNB, tech has become a catalyst for a redistribution of wealth, power and ownership.
Organizations like Urban Array are using technology and passionate change-makers to shape a future that is more sustainable and equitable for everyone, with strong communities and a vibrant sharing economy.
