Action soutside the 'plan' : street vending in urban planning - a case study of Indore

Abstract

Street vending has been in existence since ancient times. It is a very common phenomenon from metropolis to medium and small-scale cities in developing countries. As a city develops and moves towards becoming a platform for economic growth and employment opportunities, a parallel growth of allied informal sector takes place that is unavoidable. A sub-set of this informal sector is street vending, which provides affordable goods and services for the ever-growing urban demand. The formal and informal cannot survive alone. Street vendors are usually defined as a person who offers goods or services for sale to the public without having a permanent built up structure but with a temporary static structure or mobile stall. The small size of set-up gives street vendors the ease of switching between places of business, flexible working duration and very low start-up capital cost. The street vendors are estimated to make up to 2% of a city’s population. Street vending provides a way for livelihood or alternate source of income to people who lack the requisite skills to get formal jobs. In turn street vendors create jobs for others. Many generate revenue for the municipalities through paying fees, fines and taxes. With the recognition and acceptance for this informal sector, the practice of integrating the informal sector in spatial planning has started with formulation of regulations for the informal activities such as the Street Vending Act for instance. The Street vending policy in India provides a supportive environment for street vendors to earn their livelihoods. The policy recognizes the contribution of the street vendors as a source of elimination of urban poverty. Need for the study: In the planning practices today the norms for integrating the informal sector exist but the characteristics of the informal sector and the needs of the informal sector in terms of space, amenities and infrastructural requirements may vary as per the size and character of the city. In today’s time, with more emphasis on formalization in the urban areas, street vending is faced with a lot of intolerance. The thesis aims to come up with ways to improve the inclusion and security of street vendors into formal development governance and planning by analysing the relationship between the types of public spaces and types of street vending, arising conflicts and shortcomings in implementation of the existing Act and policies. Indore has been taken up as the case study. Indore is the largest city in the state of Madhya Pradesh, which is the most populous metropolitan area in central India.