Sammendrag
Recreational boating in the Oslo metropolitan area has never been more popular. However, it has become increasingly evident that space in marinas to store the boats are a scarce resource. In addition, environmental challenges from boating have emerged on the policy agenda in Oslo (e.g., Plan- og bygningsetaten & Bymiljøetaten, 2020). Organised boat sharing may contribute to more environmentally sustainable usage of boats (e.g., Klimaetaten, 2019). Oslo municipality has developed initiatives to facilitate boat sharing in public marinas. Nevertheless, the diffusion of boat sharing will require users to adopt new practices. In the present study, I apply a social practice theory framework to study boat sharing in Oslo. I have conducted interviews on the CEOs of two boat sharing providers together with seven individual users of these services. Ethnographic techniques and document analysis supplement the interviews. This document provides new understandings of materials, competencies and meanings associated with boat sharing practices and how these are co-shaped between providers and practitioners. The study finds that the booking systems, the range of the electric boats, and the fixed price of memberships represent reproduction barriers. The integration of technologies in the services is identified as an opportunity for the reproduction of boat sharing practices. Moreover, in the document analysis it is identified that legal contracts between the municipality and the boating associations (marinas) is a reproduction barrier. In the contracts, only non-commercial actors are permitted to operate in public marinas. New contracts are waiting for approval from the Vice Mayor of Environment and Transport.