Contested Space: Street Trading, Pubic Space and Livelihoods in Developing Cities

Since one-sixth of world’s population live in “slums”, urban poverty deserves careful analyses focused on people’s mechanisms for surviving. This volume unpicks the world of street trading and traders, and links the literature on the informal economy and urban poverty reduction with new research on the use, management and design of public space in cities.

The strategies employed by street traders are essential for gaining and retaining access to public space. Furthermore, in the four countries analyzed here, street economies support the whole urban economic structure, even though they are unrecognized and prosecuted by urban authorities who ignore the human and economic effects of their actions and also contradict the essential right of the people to city space and to have legal work.

The first part of the book sets out the conceptual basis of the research, which is holistic (as it considers the various pressing economic and political constraints faced by street traders), dynamic (it takes into account evolutionary positive and negative aspects) and focused on people’s strengths rather than needs. Concepts of public space, bottom-up urban governance and the role of urban planning are also addressed.

Part II presents the findings from the comparative research project conducted in four cities. The first city is Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, and there is a discussion of the country’s socialist political legacy and the reshaping of municipal government’s practices (including the “Dar es Salaam Project”), which influence the street-trading sector. The second is Kumasi, Ghana, where the most important factors are the role of women in street trade, the influence of a highly centralized government and a National Poverty Reduction Agenda. The third is Maseru, Lesotho, where the most relevant issue is the struggle by street traders, who claim for their rights in the courts, even though they have to operate in a legal limbo with imperfect or non-existent street-labour regulations. The fourth is Kathmandu, Nepal, where the historic built legacy and the escalating tensions between street traders and the metropolitan authorities (a conflict exacerbated by a national civil conflict) are discussed. Part III draws conclusions and lessons, exploring possible enabling policies and urban management initiatives at city, national and international levels.

Two key issues run through the book. The first is the role of urban public spaces in supporting street economies, something seldom recognized by the authorities, so this is a matter of struggle “between municipal governments or other vested interests and street traders, whose activities are circumscribed by restrictive social norms, ambiguous legal status, street violence or an official response that vacillates between indifference and eviction.” The second is the need for a more comprehensive understanding of street economies rather than simply considering them in purely conventional economic terms. For instance, what are the key resources used by street traders as contributions to livelihood strategies? To what extent are gender dimensions crucial for street economies? Are all street traders poor? As the authors observe, in many cities, women are successful independent entrepreneurs who dominate street activity. The book concludes that pro-poor urban governance initiatives are needed in the world, since street traders can strengthen livelihoods and contribute to poverty reduction agendas.