Darren Sharp is a Research Fellow at Monash Sustainable Development Institute working on a Net-Zero Precincts scoping study with Professor Rob Raven and colleagues across Monash. Darren is a sharing economy consultant and urban transitions researcher and as founding Director of Social Surplus has worked with grassroots innovators and public sector partners to develop community empowerment strategies, collaborative governance experiments and facilitate capacity-building using strength-based and design-led approaches.

Darren is also the Australian editor of Shareable, Melbourne coordinator of the Sharing Cities Network and co-authored the book Sharing Cities: Activating the Urban Commons which contains 137 case studies and policies that showcases how city residents around the world are using commons-based strategies to meet their needs in housing, food, transportation, work and energy.

Darren helped establish and run Livewell Yarra, an urban living lab in Melbourne and recently completed his PhD at Curtin University Sustainability Policy Institute where he undertook action research on transformative urban experimentation for sustainability transitions funded by the CRC for Low Carbon Living. His recent academic publications appear in Sustainability and Urban Policy and Research.