WIEGO has launched a new, interactive e-book, Street Vendors and Public Space: Essential insights on key trends and solutions. This all-in-one resource provides an important overview on the global context, issues and solutions for researchers, policymakers, activists and planners. It also includes helpful resources, including WIEGO’s Public Space Toolkit.
In this podcast interview with Urban Research Director Caroline Skinner, she discusses the book’s contents, starting with the hostile situation faced by street vendors today in cities from New Delhi to New York. She also provides important insights on global economic and political shifts that have led to increased privatization of public space and widespread anti-migrant sentiment that often impacts street vendors, many of whom are migrants. She also emphasizes that the issues street vendors face are not isolated to the Global South. Vendors in cities from Rome to Barcelona to New York face ongoing challenges.
But there is a way forward for more inclusive cities. Caroline highlights some of the promising, real-world solutions in the book, from Mexico, India, Liberia and South Africa. These solutions happen when street vendors are given a voice and are included in city planning to create vibrant public spaces that are truly for all.
Highlights from the e-book Street Vendors and Public Space: Essential insights on key trends and solutions:
- How Cities Can Achieve Public Space for All
- Feeding Cities: Informal Retailers Play Essential Role in Urban Food Security
- In a New York Neighborhood, It’s the Rich Pushing Out Street Vendors, Not the Majority
- Liberia’s Street Vendors Pioneer New Approach with City Officials
- Evicted: How Mexico City’s Shoe Shiners Fought Displacement and Challenged “Future” Cities
Download this full book here to read more than 10 articles, including Myths and Facts, a Public Space Toolkit, and the Informal Economy Monitoring Study.
Feature photo: A street vendor in Monrovia, Liberia. Credit: Sarah Orleans Reed