| The increasing importance of smart phones and internet connectivity to urban life has led to the rapid expansion of digital platforms, like Airbnb, a company which facilitates short-term rental hosting in residential properties. Using data from the consulting firm Airdna, I analyze and map Airbnb listing activity in the City of Toronto to assess the platform's ability to increase rent gaps in the city and thereby impact rental availability. I find that the majority of the platform's revenue derives from full-time, commercially oriented hosts operating in select downtown neighbourhoods and that without considered regulation there exist significant incentives for investors and landlords to take up the practice. Through interviews with key stakeholders, I also consider the discourses and debates that attend the emergence of this industry and its links to conditions of economic precarity stemming from the financialization of the Canadian economy, as well as potential alternative arrangements for integrating platforms into urban economies. |
