Editorial: Contested spaces in the sharing economy

The explosive growth of collaborative or peer-economy platforms
has disrupted “business as usual” in tourism and triggered broad
research interest in certain aspects or players of the sharing
economy. This special issue explores diverse manifestations of the
sharing economy in the context of its impacts upon and complex
relationship with tourism spaces, by offering six, conceptually
reflexive and empirically rich studies of how the sharing economy
is transforming destinations, communities, consumers and tourism
governance in Nordic and Mediterranean regions. The volume
sheds light on the particular political, socio-cultural, demographic,
organizational, institutional and technological conditions that are
shaping new collaborative endeavours in tourism. Instead of
fixating on sudden socio-spatial disruptions, the contributions are
observant to changes unfolding over a longer period and in
different geographical contexts. This longitudinal perspective also
enables a more sophisticated discussion of the sharing-economy’s
impact beyond tourism, and its entanglements with social welfare
models, cooperative production resilient communities
and digital infrastructures.