NEW CITY BUSINESS MODELS – SHARING ECONOMY
Seminar Faculty: Gonzalo Delacámara

The Seminar will explore economic, social, and institutional conditions that lead to successful business models necessary to implement smart city practices, both in terms of the management of the water-energy nexus, transport systems, infrastructure development, climate change adaptation, etc. The Seminar will explore how smart cities create a fertile space for new business models and innovation, mostly around the so-called ‘sharing economy’.

Robust decision-making and long-term planning require factoring in multiple scales (spatial and temporal). Increasing challenges in spatial development and urban design demand new approaches that can deal with complex trade-offs and synergies throughout those multiple scales. For instance, novel experiences with citizen observatories will also be explored, as a way to harness the potential for smart cities of citizen-generated data. Some institutional setups may be effective means to yield new business opportunities and trigger innovation (technological, economic, social…) to improve the way communities deal with contemporary social, economic, and environmental challenges.

The reduction of information costs, the potential for economies of scope and scale, the mitigation of externalities, the contribution to resource efficiency and the circular economy, and the enhancement of resilience will also be explored.

The link between environmental and social innovations as drivers of economic and social progress will also be analysed.