The sharing economy and product as a service are growing. What will be their spatial and environmental effects in Flanders?


The research aim is, for a selection of initiatives in the sharing economy and products-as-a-service, to gain insights into the conditions for a large-scale use and the integration in a spatial and environmental policy for Flanders. The initiatives looked at, are in the field of mobility, logistics, housing, work, products, food, energy and others.

The (dis)advantages for the (spatial) environment of the sharing economy and products as a service will be studied on the basis of a broad scan. The break through potentials of these systems will be evaluated. This will result in a short list of five to ten cases of which a large spatial and environmental impact is expected.

For each case, three scenarios will be researched: the starting scenario (no use of the sharing economy or product-as-service), the current scenario and scenario in which the researched sharing economy or product-as-service has become mainstream. For each scenario, the spatial implications will be examined. How the spatial implications relate to each other will also researched. For example, does less storage space entail more mobility?

For this project David Dooghe worked together with EY (project leader) and University of Antwerp.

Vlaamse Overheid, Beleidsdomein Omgeving, Departement Omgeving and Vlaams Planbureau voor Omgeving. 2019, Flanders.