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Airbnb and the City: Comparative Analysis of Short-Term Rentals policies in Florence (Italy)

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  • Taylor Higgins
  • Federico Martellozzo
  • Filippo Randelli

Abstract

This work aims at investigating and problematizing the effectiveness of regulating short term rental (STR) in the housing sector, by comparing 9 different policies applied in a matching number of cities worldwide. The research focuses on the municipality of Florence, and takes it as a ground zero case study, given that so far regulamentation and monitoring policies in Italy have been absent or at least negligible. The paper aims at providing a comparative analysis of the effects imputable to the hipotetical application of several housing policies to the case study of Florence. Although many cities are experiencing the same dynamics (overtourism, gentrification, commercial use of private apartments), there is not a regulation fitting all of them. While the goal of regulation could be quite similar (reducing the overtourism and limiting commercial style STRs), the underlying processes and consequences differ per city. In this paper we argue that an adequate and data-driven policy can be implemented to ensure that the positive effects of new companies like Airbnb stay within the community and that the majority of hosts using the platform are representative of the community, not multinational commercial operations. The analysis of the Florence case study are based on spatial GIS techniques fuelled by Airbnb scaped data and other data base. Results shows that shifting from a laissez faire approach (which is the status quo) to even the weakest of such policies can have a large impact on dynamics of supply within short term and long term rental housing.

Suggested Citation

  • Taylor Higgins & Federico Martellozzo & Filippo Randelli, 2023. "Airbnb and the City: Comparative Analysis of Short-Term Rentals policies in Florence (Italy)," Working Papers - Economics wp2023_10.rdf, Universita' degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Scienze per l'Economia e l'Impresa.
    • Handle: RePEc:frz:wpaper:wp2023_10.rdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Gianluca Iannucci & Federico Martellozzo & Filippo Randelli, 2022. "Sustainable development of rural areas: a dynamic model in between tourism exploitation and landscape decline," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 32(3), pages 991-1016, July.
    2. Salvador Garcia-Ayllon, 2018. "Urban Transformations as an Indicator of Unsustainability in the P2P Mass Tourism Phenomenon: The Airbnb Case in Spain through Three Case Studies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-21, August.
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    4. Benítez-Aurioles, Beatriz & Tussyadiah, Iis, 2021. "What Airbnb does to the housing market," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    5. Ismael Yrigoy, 2019. "Rent gap reloaded: Airbnb and the shift from residential to touristic rental housing in the Palma Old Quarter in Mallorca, Spain," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 56(13), pages 2709-2726, October.
    6. Daniel Guttentag, 2015. "Airbnb: disruptive innovation and the rise of an informal tourism accommodation sector," Current Issues in Tourism, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(12), pages 1192-1217, December.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    short term rentals; AIRbnb; spatial analysis; GIS; housing policies;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q18 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Agricultural Policy; Food Policy; Animal Welfare Policy
    • R11 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes
    • R12 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity; Interregional Trade (economic geography)

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