Pret A Habiter/Ready to inhabit: Feel at home in Paris, New York, London, Tokyo and Berlin; simultaneously. “Home”, once a personal “fortress of solitude”, now an online commodity everywhere, marks a tidal shift in a subtle transition towards a newfound sharing economy. Sustained by sharing of access to goods and services typically coordinated through community-based online services, these widely accessible peer-to-peer based transactions are transforming the urban landscape, making us global locals that belong anywhere. However, in desirable urban spaces, AirBnB is facilitating the cultivation of a gentrified monoculture that jeopardises diversity. Consequently, an AirBnB neighbourhood is not a profitable means to collectively consume, but an international bedroom community of "post-tourist" upwardly mobile workers. AirBnB makes cities more affordable, as its influx of guests undertakes a much more utilitarian approach to the urban realm, yet raises questions as to whether this form of social behaviour liberates or further entraps our society; as these newly administered laws of exchange slowly relieve us of a sense of ownership and identity.
Perhaps the homo-economicus does not fully comprehend the urban implications of their contribution to gentrification, but will it matter once everywhere wears the same nordic furniture, stocks the same chicken sandwich, and pours the same Seattle coffee?