Regulating The Digital City: The Planning Challenges Of Airbnb

This research paper investigates the impact that digital technological platforms are having on municipalities and the ways in which these practices can and are be incorporated into planning studies and regulatory frameworks. It uses the expansion of the short-term rental market as a case study, looking specifically at the Airbnb platform and its growth within the City of Toronto since 2011. Findings from the study indicate that municipalities need to explore the use of new digital tools like web scraping and advocating for APIs which allow for better data collection. Furthermore, the collection of data for municipal governance purposes is a practice that needs to be more clearly defined by either the provincial or federal governments. Interviews with key informants also suggest that there is a need to establish strong data agreement policies and to expand Information Technology departments to better equip municipalities to cope with technological change.