An international research symposium

The ‘Sharing Cities Shaping Cities’ research symposium took place at Politecnico di Milano, on the 5th and 6th March 2018.

The event was attended by nearly 50 delegates, including researchers and PhD candidates, practitioners, Milan municipality officers.

Out of nearly 70 proposals submitted to the call, 13 contributions were selected to be presented by scholars and practitioners coming from 3 continents, who discussed about how sharing economy is shaping cities.

The main themes and outcomes of the event are briefly summarised in this document and implemented versions may be shared in the near future.

The organising committee would like to thank:

• all the presenters (listed in the summary) for had shared their research insights and reflections
• the invited speakers and chairs listed in the programme), together with the local auditors for had contributed to feeding the discussion
• the scientific committee for their remarkable work in the peer review process
• the hosting and funding institution, the department of Architecture and Urban Studies (DAStU) of Politecnico di Milano
• the co-funding body European Commission, through the ‘Sharing Cities’ H2020 project.

For more information on the event, its ouctomes and follow up please write an email to sharingcities@polimi.it

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Call for paper: special issue on ‘Sharing Cities’ in Urban Science

Sharing economy and collaborative consumption are attracting much interest for their business, legal and civic implications. Underexplored is instead the consequences of the spreading on sharing-based practices in the urban environmental and daily dynamics.
The “Sharing Cities – Shaping Cities (#ShapringCities)” symposium aims at addressing if and how is sharing shaping cities, the way spaces are designed and lived if social interactions are escalated, the way habits and routines take place in the post-individualist society.
The #ShapringCities Symposium can be of interest for researchers in the fields of urban studies, urban planning and design, service design, sociology, geography, anthropology, innovation studies, and related.

Key questions to be discussed include:

/ Urban fabric / How is ‘sharing’ shaping cities? Does it represent a paradigm shift with tangible and physical reverberation on urban form? How are shared mobility, work, inhabiting, energy and food provision reconfiguring urban and social fabric?

/ Social practices / Are new lifestyles and practices related to sharing changing the use and design of spaces? To what extent sharing is triggering a production and consumption paradigm shift to be reflected in urban arrangements and infrastructures?

/ Sustainability / Does sharing increase the intensity of use of space and assets or rather increases them to meet expectations of convenience for urban lifestyles? To what extent are these phenomena fostering more economically, socially and environmentally sustainable practices and cities?

/ Policy / How can policy makers and municipalities interact with these bottom-up and phenomena and grassroots innovation to create more sustainable cities?

Submission of contributions + prospect book (UPDATE) /
The symposium represents an opportunity to advance answers to above and related questions, especially (but not solely) in the fields of urban studies, urban planning and design, service design, geography, sociology, anthropology, and innovation studies. Attendees of the symposium are expected to address the key topics with highly critical approach and grounded on research findings from fieldwork and real case-study experience; collection of observations, mapping and interpretation of emerging phenomena representing clues that we are experiencing the dawn of a new urban era.
Up to twelve contributions to the symposium will be selected upon the submission of an extended abstract (up to 1,500 words, plus references) via email at

sharingcities[at]polimi.it

by 24th November 2017. Upon a double blind peer review by the scientific committee, selected contributions will be presented by the author(s) at the symposium.

Special issue with Urban Science/

Contributions selected to be presented at the Sharing Cities Shaping Cities symposium will benefit from a free submission to the special issue ‘Sharing Cities’ published in the international scientific journal Urban Science.
The deadline for the submission of full papers is June 4th 2018. More information are available here.

Attending the symposium /
The symposium will be held on 5 to 6 March 2018, at Politecnico di Milano, in Milan. There is no cost to attend and catering would be provided; however travel would be self-funded.

Important dates and programme /
Nov. 24 / Dec. 04 / Submission of extended abstracts EXTENDED! [CLOSED]
Jan. 12 / Notification of acceptance
Mar. 5-6 / Symposium in Milan

The programme of the symposium is available here.

Meet the team /
‘Shapring Cities’ symposium is organised by the LabSimUrb ‘Fausto Curti’ research group at the Dept. of Architecture and Urban Studies (DAStU) of Politecnico di Milano . The research group is also involved in the European H2020 programme funded project ‘Sharing Cities‘, more specifically in the context of the Milan municipality. Key questions to be addressed at the workshop emerged from this ongoing research.

The Organisers
Dr Giuseppe Salvia
Dr Eugenio Morello
Prof. Andrea Arcidiacono

Irene Bianchi
Margherita Ciandrini

The Scientific Committee /
Fabrizio Ceschin / Brunel University, UK
Marco Boffi / Università degli studi di Milano, IT
Grazia Concilio / Politecnico di Milano, IT
Mina di Marino / Norwegian University of Life Sciences, NO
Massimo Menichinelli / Aalto University, FI + Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalunya, ES
Anna Meroni / Politecnico di Milano, IT
Carolina Pacchi / Politecnico di Milano, IT
Ivana Pais / Università Cattolica di Milano, IT
Cristina Pasqualini / Università Cattolica di Milano, IT
Gabriele Pasqui / Politecnico di Milano, IT
Barbara E. A. Piga / Politecnico di Milano, IT
Piero Pelizzaro / Istituto Universitario di Venezia, IT
Laura Piscicelli / Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Utrecht University, NL
Emma Puerari / TU Delft and Drift, NL
Nicola Rainisio / Università degli studi di Milano, IT
Yuliya Voytenko Palgan / International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics / SE

Let’s stay in touch! /
#ShapringCities
sharingcities[at]polimi.it

Credits /
Organized and funded by Politecnico di Milano

An initiative of and cofunded by the H2020 project ‘Sharing Cities’

‘Sharing Cities’ project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement N°691895