Sharing mobilities: Some propaedeutic considerations

The sharing economy in general and the increasing number of sharing services in mobilities in particular stand, in many ways, for a phenomenon which is somehow bulky and unwieldy for classical economic theory. Within social sciences, these new practices of sharing rather than owning have been labelled in different ways highlighting distinctive characteristics of what sharing mobilities might mean for different people and networks. A common characteristic seems to be that sharing concepts are all highly ambivalent and often constitute a paradox between being part of the capitalist economy or providing an alternative to the capitalist economy. This special issue stands as an example of the many different approaches to sharing, with its point of departure being the twelfth Cosmobilities Network Conference in 2016 in Germany. The conference entitled “Sharing Mobilities. New Perspectives for Societies on the Move?” was a starting point for social-science-based debate on the future of new forms of mobilities. This special issue picks up some of the questions that were raised there and focuses on open questions with an outset in the mobilities turn. The authors critically investigate, think through and analyse a highly actual phenomenon, and discusses its urgency and relevance both socially and politically.