On this week’s podcast, Brooks Rainwater, director of the National League of Cities City Solutions and Applied Research Center, tells us about their new report, Shifting Perceptions of Collaborative Consumption, which gauges perceptions of city leaders on the sharing economy. What is the “sharing economy,” actually, and are companies like Uber and Lyft really a part of it? Hear what Brooks has to say.

Brooks also shares his insight into the biggest issues cities have with the sharing economy, what they need to do in order to get it right for their residents, and the worker rights issues that are arising in this space.

We also get a bit tongue-in-cheek about automation and the coming of the singularity. Will robots take over our jobs in this sharing economy? Perhaps that’s far off, but we’re watching closely.