Understanding and Building the Sharing Economy in the Norwich city region

The objective of the research is to develop understanding of the shared economy at a local level, to inform thinking about how the shared economy can be developed and how it might contribute towards the 'good' economy. The project will include a critical review of existing research on the sharing economy, and a mapping exercise of which resources are shared and to what extent in the Norwich City region. The mapping exercise will explore concentration, spread and any inequalities or barriers to participation in the sharing economy. We will also evaluate the contribution of the sharing economy to the wider local economy, this will involve developing evaluation methods which move beyond standard economic techniques in order to provide values that are more closely aligned with the objectives of a 'good' economy. We will also assess how activity that falls under the sharing economy umbrella might contribute to wellbeing and a 'good' economy.

The project is a collaboration between the Norwich Good Economy Commission (NGEC) and academics from the Norwich Business School, School of Environmental Sciences and Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at the University of East Anglia. This collaboration supports the growing role of the UEA as a civic
university which engages supportively in its local economy.

As the secretariat for the NGEC, Norwich City Council are a key partner, they are also involved in the Norwich Sharing City project and have developed a range of sharing economy services which fall within the remit of the project. NCC will act as a main link with Sharing City and other relevant orgs on NEGC.
Norwich Sharing City (https://norwichsharingcity.co.uk) is a project which exists to promote Norwich as a sharing city. Supported by the city council and the Norwich Business Improvement District it has detailed knowledge of Norwich's existing sharing economy.

Pro Bono Economics: Pro Bono Economics (https://www.probonoeconomics.com) are a not-for-profit
organisation that help charities and other organisations understand their impact. They are particularly
expert in techniques of measuring the impact and value of charities and social enterprises. They will play
an important role in developing methodologies to measure the value of the sharing economy and in
providing support and training for the student.