What is a Sharing City?  That is the question I found myself exploring this week, as I traveled to South Korea to represent Bristol Green Capital Partnership at the ICLEI global congress of Cities committed to sustainability.

Seoul has officially named itself a Sharing City and has done an incredible amount of work in the past few years to build up understanding and action around a different economic model that aims to refocus minds towards ‘accessnotownership’. 

How often do you use that drill in the cupboard?  How long does your toddler wear that party dress for before they’ve outgrown it?  How often do you drive a car with no passengers?  Who sleeps in your long-since-left-home-child’s room?  When the toaster breaks does it go in the bin, or is there a neighbour you’ve not even met, who would relish the chance to use their skills to fix it and return it or pass it on? 

Almost every aspect of life can be reframed as an opportunity to share – bringing economic, social and environmental benefits to both the giver and receiver.  In a world where we are defined so often as ‘consumers’, this movement invites us to reuse, recycle, reconnect and rediscover the pleasure of savouring and sharing what we have.

As I sat in a workshop with participants from communities across all continents, I heard inspirational story after story.  People sharing their loft or garage spaces.  Neighbours sharing books, toys, cars, handbags and lawnmowers.  Schools and colleges sharing data and expertise and companies helping people share everything from lifts and parking spaces, to skills and wisdom.  Public services sharing buildings after hours and individuals sharing homes with travelling strangers.

Every story had a similar theme – this is good for your pocket, your heart, your life and the planet.  It really was a sharing of the Soul of Seoul.

So, just as the Mayor of Bristol started conversations with the Mayor of Seoul about ‘sharing the sharing model’, I was having numerous conversations with delegates from around the world about learning and sharing from each others’ examples of the a Sharing City in action.

What was a welcome surprise, was that almost every one of these examples had an equivalent in Bristol. Bristol is already a Sharing City, to name but a few, and another, and another, but I had to come to the other side of the world to recognize it as that.  What would be different if we named it? How would that simple act of giving a face for all this activity, give people here a pride in their communities and a chance to get involved?

Happy City’s long term strapline – Live More, Share More, Enjoy Life, for Less – couldn’t be a more appropriate one for Bristol as a Sharing City – and I think people, places and the planet will thank us for reconnecting with this radically simple idea.