Informal Traders and the Battlegrounds of Revanchism in Cusco, Peru

Abstract

Informal trading in the global South, particularly in Latin America, is the subject of revanchist urban policy and yet few studies have examined the longer-term impacts of such intolerant policies on traders. This article explores the evolution and impacts of revanchist policies directed at informal traders in the Andean city of Cusco. It makes two key contributions. First, it documents a shift from early revanchist policies to a post-revanchist era where policies have become more tolerant of informal traders. However, contemporary policies fall short of a supportive environment for informal trading, hence the authors recommend changes that will ensure informal traders can access the city's streets and become an accepted part of the urban fabric. Second, given the lack of theoretical attention given to the impacts of revanchism, a battlegrounds framework is developed, consisting of spatial, political, economic and socio-cultural battlegrounds. This framework provides a comprehensive insight into the complex set of interactions that exist between informal traders and the state. It is hoped that the framework will provide a tool for further research into the highly damaging impacts of revanchism across the globe.

Managed Informality: Regulating Street Vendors in Bangkok

“…In Chicago (Venkatesh ), Manila (Illy ), Mumbai (Anjaria ), New York (Devlin ), Quito, Guayaquil (Swanson ), Mexico, and Lima (Stamm ), as well as Cusco (Mackie et al. ), scholars depict law enforcement as oscillating between harassment and leniency. Periods of tolerance and compromise alternate with bursts of harassment and evictions whenever street vending comes back on the political agenda.…”

Governmentality and Spatial Strategies: Towards Formalization of Street Vendors in Guangzhou, China

“…Policy responses to street vending as a notable urban informality in the global South continue to receive great attention (Brown, ). Framed by theories of neoliberal urbanism, entrepreneurial cities and revanchism, a vast body of research has explained the politics of exclusion of street vendors in different contexts (Bromley, ; Crossa, ; Huang et al ., ; Mackie et al ., ). Less attention, however, has been paid to soft policies that attempt to incorporate this informality into a formal regulatory system.…”

The aftermath of eviction in the Nigerian informal economy

“…African cities are the emerging front-line of neoliberal urban policies, where cities are viewed as a sho ase fo i est e t , o a a i u ed hu fo fi a e a d te h olog , and it is in this developing context that street traders face hostility, repression, abuse and eviction in a constant battle over the use of public space (Watson, 2014; Economist, 2017). Whilst much is known about the immediate social, economic and spatial impacts of evictions (for example see Swanson, 2007;Bromley and Mackie, 2009;Carrieri and Murta, 2011;Mackie et al, 2014), there has been limited consideration of the posteviction, longer term responses of traders. Key immediate impacts of public space evictions on trader livelihoods include the damaging of previously existing networks and reductions in sales due to reduced footfall, particularly due to the displacement of traders from central locations to peripheral sites (Bromley and Mackie, 2009;Mackie et al, 2014;Omoegun, 2015a).…”