Negotiation and Management Strategies of Street Vendors in Developing Countries

Abstract

The existing literature on the relationship between regulators and street vendors remain fragmented and limited to specific countries and contexts. This article presents a narrative review of the existing literature on the relationship between regulators and street vendors, and through that creates a unified picture of an otherwise fragmented literature and knowledge base. The concepts of negotiation, power, social network, and perception are used to analyze the various strategies street vendors have used in gaining access to urban public spaces in different parts of the developing world. It is revealed that even though city regulators have access to formal power, street vendors possess a variety of negotiating strategies that gives them access to both formal and informal power.

Exploring the Dangerous Disconnect Between Perspectives, Planning, Policy, and Practice Towards Informal Traders in Durban, South Africa

“…However, staff identified that there is now a lack of adequate consultation since this disconnect took root and they will need to work better and more meaningfully with trading organisations moving forward. This type of collaboration with trading associations is also encouraged in the literature (Forkuor, Akuoko, and Yeboah 2017;Goodfellow 2016;Roever and Skinner 2016;Brown, Lyons, and Dankoco 2010). In Durban specifically, it will entail a necessary return to previous practices and to addressing current policy concerns (Goodfellow 2016;Roever and Skinner 2016).…”

“…Since the early 1990s, when the Warwick Junction Pilot Project first started and involved traders in the development of and investment in organized markets, Durban has been recognised for its success with informal trading (Skinner 2008;Skinner and Valodia 2003;Lund and Skinner 2004). Often, literature about informal trade in other cities states that traders lack organization and collective voice to negotiate with the local government for space in the public realm (Forkuor, Akuoko, and Yeboah 2017;Goodfellow 2016;Roever and Skinner 2016;Brown, Lyons, and Dankoco 2010). These studies reference Durban as the best example of involving trading associations in local governance and management processes of the markets (Goodfellow 2016;Roever and Skinner 2016).…”

“…After a decade of successful support for informal workers through the Warwick Junction Pilot Project, practices started to become punitive toward informal traders in the mid-2000s (Xulu 2015). This type of punitive practice toward informal traders occurs in many other cities in the world and is more common when thinking about how traders are treated by their respective local governments (Forkuor, Akuoko, and Yeboah 2017;Schindler 2014;Donovan 2008). These cities aim to formalize traders and keep them out of the public realm in response to the global ideals of what a city should look like (Schindler 2014;Brown, Lyons, and Dankoco 2010;Donovan 2008).…”

The untold flavour of street food: Social infrastructure as a means of everyday politics for street vendors in Bandung, Indonesia

“…They actively participate in a subtle struggle to negotiate and contest the constraints faced in their daily operations. Indeed, such negotiation strategies are carried out at the macro level – between the organised group and local authorities, and also at the micro level – between the vendors and regulators (Forkuor et al, : 8). In this research I argue that street vendors’ ability to build networks in the form of ‘social infrastructure’ with various stakeholders, such as customers, informal organisers, and suppliers, in addition to their use of new technology, allows them to negotiate and amplify their existence in everyday urban life.…”

Cultural Dimensions, Communication, Public Opinion, and Consensus: A Study of the Implementation of Street Vendor Relocation Policy in Yogyakarta City, Indonesia

“…Municipalities often perceive and portray street vendors as negatively affecting the attractiveness and beauty of their cities, as a source of congestion and poor environmental sanitation; their structures are seen as damaging the "aesthetic qualities of urban settlements. Street vendors are often described as bullies and illegitimate, hindering the ability of cities to modernize and achieve global status (Forkuor et al, 2017). Because of this perception, local governments in various cities in Indonesia try to control and relocate street vendors.…”