[JoPP-Public] CFP RGS-IBG Annual Conference, Exeter, September 2015 / Session: Critical geographies of the sharing economy

Wed Jan 21 23:53:07 CET 2015

CFP RGS-IBG Annual Conference, Exeter, September 2015

Session: Critical geographies of the sharing economy

Sponsored by the Economic Geography Research Group

Session convenors: Filippo Celata, University of Rome La Sapienza (Italy), 
filippo.celata at uniroma1.it and  Ramon Ribera-Fumaz, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
(Spain), rriberaf at uoc.edu

Abstract:

The sharing economy is emerging as a powerful force for restructuring post-recession
economies, for mitigating climate change through the sustainable (re-)use of
resources, and for experimenting with non-capitalistic practices in which ownership
and markets are replaced by access, collaborative consumption and commoning.

The sharing economy is also becoming a new venue for venture capital investments, and
has been accused of disrupting old industries by devolving further any legal, fiscal
and social responsibilities to low-paid and unregulated “micro-entrepreneurs” who are
induced to monetize personal assets and to compete against each other through
self-branding.

The aim of the session is to address this controversy from a geographical
perspective, which is still missing. Sharing is indeed embedded in interpersonal
relationships and based upon a variety of relational proximities which are needed to
create links, trust, and reciprocity among people who share. These networks have a
peculiar spatiality, may be more or the less inclusive, diverse, autonomous,
‘alternative’, and require the social infrastructure which is typical of cohesive
communities and of densely urbanized areas.

The problem is that community-based initiatives in the field often strive to survive
and to up-scale. Internet-based intermediaries are indeed necessary to provide what
self-organized networks rarely guarantee: efficient platforms, reputation systems and
the critical mass of connections which are needed to reduce transaction costs and
risks. These ICT platforms are increasingly controlled by big corporations which
mobilize an array of benign geographical imaginaries - communitarism, autonomy,
intimacy, reciprocity, authenticity, sustainability, etc. - for legitimising a
business model that may be regarded as the last frontier of post-fordism, and as the
advent of a libertarian and purely informational capitalism in which control over
social networks became a major source of oligopolistic power.

We invite papers which deal with the bright as well as dark side of this emerging
phenomenon, and in particular:

  # The sharing economy and the spatiality of collaborative networks
  # The sharing economy and the geographies of community
  # The sharing economy and the diverse economies
  # The sharing economy and the reconfiguration of work and labour relations
  # The sharing economy and the extending geographies of outsourcing
  # The sharing economy and creative destruction
  # The sharing economy and (de)monetization
  # The sharing economy and the marketing of the self
  # The sharing economy and material/immaterial internet geographies
  # The sharing economy and libertarian/informational capitalism

If you are interested in presenting a paper in this session, please send an abstract
of max. 250 words to Filippo Celata, filippo.celata at uniroma1.it and  Ramon
Ribera-Fumaz, rriberaf at uoc.edu

The deadline is 10 February 2015.

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