Sharing Cities

Nowadays in cities around the world, a sharing culture has evolved and has a profound impact on our everyday life, in terms of the ways we live, work, commute, learn, travel, produce food and more. The sharing paradigm, existing already in cities in shared space, human interaction and encounter, and the exchange of goods and services, has expanded to become a necessary part of our lives. Because of increasing online social networks, rapid technological advancements, and the rise of a sharing economy, the old form of consumption characterized by private interests and individual ownership has changed to a new form that is built on collaboration, cooperation, and community. The students have been exploring this topic of sharing culture and collaborative consumption in cities like Seoul and its surroundings, and their architectural and urban interventions address new emerging lifestyles, which enhance exchange and socialization. From workshops in Seoul and London, they experienced firsthand how to work collectively and negotiate their ideas in drawings and models. Their insightful research and provocative design proposals reflect how the built environment in cities can improve social cohesion by creating new spaces and building typologies for co-living, co-working, or new infrastructures to facilitate sharing and collaboration.