Housing Under Platform Capitalism: The Contentious Regulation of Short-Term Rentals in European Cities

Since the birth of Airbnb in 2008, many of the world's cities have been transformed by platform-mediated short-term accommodation—a phenomenon suspected of disturbing local life and removing dwellings from local housing inventories. Drawing on mixed-method, multi-level comparative research in twelve large European cities, coauthors Thomas Aguilera, Francesca Artioli, and Claire Colomb show that strikingly different regulatory regimes have emerged around short-term rentals. In some cities, policies aim to curb this practice; in others, regulations are simply meant to support the market. These responses are motivated by a variety of political choices and pressures, from grassroots movements to property interests, the tourism industry, and municipal welfare and housing systems. This book makes a crucial contribution to comparative urban politics in the twenty-first century, investigating the capacity of local states to govern housing markets and platform capitalism in an era of globalized human and capital flows. In the face of this worldwide shift, Housing Under Platform Capitalism insists that institutions and regulations can champion the public good by protecting the right to housing and ultimately limiting corporate power.