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

The importance of public space in supporting city economies and in contributing to poverty reduction is rarely recognized. Instead, public space is more often an arena for contest—between municipal governments or other vested interests, and street traders, whose activities are proscribed by restrictive social norms, ambiguous legal status, street violence, or an official response that vacillates between indifference and eviction.
This book breaks new ground in linking literature on the informal economy, urban livelihoods, and public space. Based on a research study in four developing cities – Dar Es Salaam, Kumasi, Maseru, and Kathmandu – it explores the survival strategies of street traders and their relationships with city governments. It concludes by exploring the practical and policy implications for pro-poor street management. This book is essential reading for all those interested in innovative city governance.

The importance of public space in supporting city economies and in contributing to poverty reduction is rarely recognized. Instead, public space is more often an arena for contest--between municipal governments or other vested interests, and street traders, whose activities are proscribed by restrictive social norms, ambiguous legal status, street violence, or an official response that vacillates between indifference and eviction.
This book breaks new ground in linking literature on the informal economy, urban livelihoods, and public space. Based on a research study in four developing cities – Dar Es Salaam, Kumasi, Maseru, and Kathmandu – it explores the survival strategies of street traders and their relationships with city governments. It concludes by exploring the practical and policy implications for pro-poor street management. This book is essential reading for all those interested in innovative city governance.

Alison Brown is a Senior Lecturer in the School of City & Regional Planning at Cardiff University, and an urban planning consultant specializing in international planning practice. She is course director for the MSc in International Planning & Development, and has undertaken extensive research and consultancy in the developing world--in Southern and West Africa, South Asia, and the Middle East. She has recently managed a Department for International Development-funded study on street trading and livelihoods on which the book is based.