A highly debated subject today is the high level of consumption, how to reduce it and how to start consuming more sustainably. One consequence is an economy based on sharing, or so-called collaborative consumption, which has become exceedingly popular. Grounded on the controversial topic of sustainability, it enables individuals to find alternative ways to consume, namely collaborative lifestyles. The purpose of this study is to explore how interpersonal trust affects engagement in collaborative lifestyles from a gender perspective. Different types of trust, interpersonal trust and online trust, as well as aspects of trust, risk and expectation, have been scrutinized. Empirical data was collected through a qualitative method using online focus groups. The findings show that different kinds of trust affect engagement in collaborative lifestyles. Although no generalization could be made between gender, an indication of gender differences was found in risk taking when engaging in collaborative lifestyle-services. Although interpersonal trust was not the most apparent factor, online trust was found to be of importance for the participants in general. In addition, we saw an indication of younger generations relying more on online trust than interpersonal trust. This study contributes with a greater understanding of consumer behavior in relation to collaborative lifestyles. This can in turn provide companies in the industry with knowledge about their consumers and therefore advantages in market positioning.

The purpose with this report is to speculate how our neighborhoods could look like in the future, looking at modern collective living due to the housing crisis is Sweden today. This paper will look att different forms of collective housing, to challenge the conventional way of living. Connecting sustainability to the act of sharing space and resources, in creating a collaborative lifestyle. The research methods used in this speculative project looks at three case studies of collective housing to analyse and define different levels of sharing. During the design process one intervention was executed to challenging the norm of ownership, questioning what the act of sharing demands. The goal of this project is to change assumptions of collective living by rethinking space. To create an interlaced community, with hopes of becoming more resilient. The research and its findings worked along- side the report and developed into a zine. The zine was made with key insights from the study, as a tool to communicate the design proposal and can easily be distributed to the Swedish population.

Despite the increase of urban populations resulting in people living in close proximity to each other, society continues to operate with a focus on individual desire and hyper-consumption, at the expense of the earth’s ecologies and all that encompasses it. How can we begin to cultivate an alternative consumption model that not only focuses on the conservation of ecologies but also begins to break away from ways in which “habits, routines, social norms and cultural values lock us into unsustainable behaviours”? (Botsman, R., Rogers, R. 2010). Collaboration, through its many forms, be it ‘commons’ or modern-day ‘sharing economy’, continues to be a topic of discussion as a favourable solution to environmental, social and economic issues. This paper and design project explores the everyday practice of collaboration and its potential for activating a network in urban neighbourhoods, specifically in high-density housing. The project explores: how we can share, where we can share, and what we can share, using the sharing of household items as a seed for sustainable development. The resulting project presents methods and guidelines for cultivating collaboration in the form of a multipurpose toolkit. The toolkit “Collaboration is Cultivation” enables individuals to become activists and implement collaborative practices in their own neighbourhood. Through designerly research and a design project I shed light on the potential of the coming-together of neighbors through collaborative lifestyles that can incrementally transform neighborhoods into one’s that are socially and environmentally, sustainable, resilient and thriving.