Airbnb's experiment in urban planning was sparked by the success of an elderly woman in a rural Japanese town, Tsuyama Okayama, who listed her home on the site. While near Japan's most famous cedar forests, the town didn't receive many tourists.

But build it and they will come: soon, tourists flocked to the rural idyll. Enough tourists, in fact, that the woman's neighbors secured gigs as hiking guides, translators and tour guides.

Later, Airbnb worked with architect Go Hasegawa to design a community center where tourists could stay. Designed for an exhibit, House Vision, which paired architects with companies, the center will be trucked to Yoshino in Nara Prefecture in October. 

The building, which was built with local materials and labor, will be located near a wide stream where tourists can observe local fishermen at work.

"If this works, there are a lot of villages in Japan that could benefit," says Airbnb founder Joe Gebbia.

For more on Airbnb and its urban influence, check out these links:

• Falling through the sharing economy's looking glass—and into an ocean of unpaid, gendered, domestic labor
• After allegations of racial discrimination and #AirbnbWhileBlack fallout, Airbnb looks inward
• Airbnb invests in a blockchain future
• You may have Airbnb to thank for that low hotel rate