ABSTRACT
With internet connectivity and access to smart devices becoming increasingly ubiquitous, online platform matching technologies offer the opportunity to unlock ‘lazy assets’. The ‘disruption’ of the accommodation industry by upstart Airbnb is seen as one of the clearest examples of an ongoing process that is challenging how cities function, how they are regulated and how they might be planned. In this chapter we study the Airbnb phenomenon in the context of three international cities: Sydney, London and Phoenix. Using data provided through AirDNA, a number of spatial analysis techniques are used to explore Airbnb’s impact on both the downtown core and the suburbs. These analyses demonstrate how technological tools like GIS can be used to help planners unpack complex data and respond to the impact disruptive technologies are having on our cities. The approaches used here point to a strong relationship between distance from the central city and the number of Airbnb listings, contradicting some of Airbnb’s arguments about its geographic and economic impacts. Through the spatial analysis undertaken in this research, hot spots of Airbnb activity are identified across the three international cities studied. Recognising the complexity of urban geographies, however, further use of these spatial analysis techniques is recommended to better understand the influence of other key attractors and nodes within the city, including tourist destinations and transport interchanges.
