Globally, urban public spaces have become important resources for the urban poor. The majority of the urban poor and low-income urbanities indulge in street vending to eke their living in the cities. It has become an integral part of the growth of cities and the use of urban public spaces, particularly in cities of the global South. The visible expression of these activities in rapidly urbanizing cities and their urban public spaces present space management problems to city authorities and urban planning practitioners. Conventional literature has documented a cloud of traditional planning practices and policy tools; eviction, force relocation, harassment, raiding and confiscation of vendors’ wares, among others, to regulate these activities. These approaches have repeatedly proven futile, and vendors have remained resilient and defied all forms of intolerance. The intricacies and trajectories of this phenomenon are evident in the fast urbanizing Ghanaian cities as city authorities continue to battle with vendors over the control and use of these spaces. This thesis argued that using these aggressive and repressive measures to manage street vending is ethically inappropriate and practically ineffective. They have consistently failed and proven incapable of removing these activities from urban spaces. Therefore, urban planning practitioners and policy makers must resort to inclusive and spatial integrative approaches to deal with the complexity of street vending. This thesis aimed to explore more effective and inclusive strategies for regulating street vending in cities in response to this call. The study shows that street vending activities in Ghana are growing substantively due to rapid informal urbanization and the lack of employment opportunities for youth in the cities. However, the regulation of these informal activities are characterized by ambiguous regulatory frameworks: on the one hand, they quite endure vending, on the other hand, intolerance due to the pursuit of modernity and world-class cities. The result further indicated that policies trajectories of Ghana ardently contributed to the ambivalent actions and exclusion of street vending in the cities. Learning from emerging practices, the analysis of the case studies – The Indian National Policy/Act on Street Vendors, Warwick Urban Renewal Project and Memorandum of Understanding between the street vendors association (FEPTIWUL) and Monrovia City Corporation) – indicated that street vending can be effectively managed if policies turn to be more inclusive and spatially integrating vending spaces in cities rather than the repressive methods. The lessons from the case studies are juxtaposed with the experience of Ghana to develop a robust policy strategy for regulating street vending in Ghanaian cities. Four key policy strategies are recommended; (1) A national policy on the street vending, (2) demarcate vending sites and recognize natural emerged vending sites in cities and spatially integrate them at all levels of urban planning, (3) Design and develop structures infrastructure for street vendors, and (4) involve street vendors in the urban policy process and harness their potential in managing urban spaces.
A livello globale, gli spazi pubblici urbani sono diventati risorse importanti per i poveri. La maggior parte dei essi e delle città a basso reddito si dedicano alla vendita ambulante per guadagnarsi da vivere nelle città. È diventato parte integrante della crescita delle città e dell'uso degli spazi pubblici urbani, in particolare nelle città del Sud del mondo. L'espressione visibile di queste attività nelle città in rapida urbanizzazione e nei loro spazi pubblici urbani presenta problemi di gestione dello spazio alle autorità cittadine e ai professionisti della pianificazione urbana. La letteratura convenzionale ha documentato una nuvola di pratiche di pianificazione tradizionali e strumenti politici; sfratto, trasferimento forzato, molestie, razzie e confisca delle merci dei venditori, tra le altre cose, per regolare queste attività. Questi approcci si sono ripetutamente dimostrati inutili e i fornitori sono rimasti resilienti, sfidando ogni forma di intolleranza. Le complessità e le sfaccettature di questo fenomeno sono evidenti nelle città ghanesi in rapida urbanizzazione mentre le autorità cittadine continuano a combattere con i venditori per il controllo e l'uso di questi spazi. Questa tesi ha sostenuto che l'utilizzo di queste misure aggressive e repressive per gestire la vendita ambulante sia eticamente inappropriato e sostanzialmente inefficace. Hanno costantemente fallito e si sono dimostrati incapaci di rimuovere queste attività dagli spazi urbani. Pertanto, i professionisti della pianificazione urbana e i responsabili politici devono ricorrere ad approcci inclusivi e integrativi spaziali per affrontare la complessità della vendita ambulante. Questa tesi mira ad esplorare strategie più efficaci e inclusive per regolare la vendita ambulante nelle città in risposta a questa chiamata. Lo studio mostra che le attività di vendita ambulante in Ghana stanno crescendo notevolmente a causa della rapida urbanizzazione informale e della mancanza di opportunità di lavoro per i giovani nelle città. Tuttavia, la regolamentazione di queste attività è caratterizzata da quadri normativi ambigui: da un lato, sopportano abbastanza le vendite, dall'altro, l'intolleranza dovuta alla ricerca della modernità e delle città di livello mondiale. Il risultato ha inoltre indicato che le traiettorie politiche del Ghana hanno contribuito ardentemente alle azioni ambivalenti e all'esclusione della vendita ambulante nelle città. Imparando dalle pratiche emergenti, l'analisi dei casi di studio – The Indian National Policy/Act on Street Vendors, Warwick Urban Renewal Project e Memorandum of Understanding tra l'associazione dei venditori ambulanti (FEPTIWUL) e Monrovia City Corporation – ha indicato che la vendita ambulante può essere gestite efficacemente se le politiche diventassero più inclusive e integrando spazialmente gli spazi di vendita nelle città piuttosto che utilizzando metodi repressivi. Le lezioni tratte dai casi di studio sono giustapposte all'esperienza del Ghana per sviluppare una solida strategia politica per la regolamentazione della vendita ambulante nelle città del Ghana. Si raccomandano quattro strategie politiche chiave: (1) Una politica nazionale sulla vendita ambulante, (2) delimitare i siti di vendita e riconoscere i siti di vendita naturali emersi nelle città e integrarli spazialmente a tutti i livelli di pianificazione urbana, (3) Progettare e sviluppare infrastrutture per le strutture per i venditori ambulanti e (4) coinvolgere i venditori ambulanti nel processo di politica urbana e sfruttare il loro potenziale nella gestione degli spazi urbani
The space of street vending in urban policy planning, Ghana : strategies and practices towards inclusion
ADDI, BARNABAS
2020/2021
Abstract
Globally, urban public spaces have become important resources for the urban poor. The majority of the urban poor and low-income urbanities indulge in street vending to eke their living in the cities. It has become an integral part of the growth of cities and the use of urban public spaces, particularly in cities of the global South. The visible expression of these activities in rapidly urbanizing cities and their urban public spaces present space management problems to city authorities and urban planning practitioners. Conventional literature has documented a cloud of traditional planning practices and policy tools; eviction, force relocation, harassment, raiding and confiscation of vendors’ wares, among others, to regulate these activities. These approaches have repeatedly proven futile, and vendors have remained resilient and defied all forms of intolerance. The intricacies and trajectories of this phenomenon are evident in the fast urbanizing Ghanaian cities as city authorities continue to battle with vendors over the control and use of these spaces. This thesis argued that using these aggressive and repressive measures to manage street vending is ethically inappropriate and practically ineffective. They have consistently failed and proven incapable of removing these activities from urban spaces. Therefore, urban planning practitioners and policy makers must resort to inclusive and spatial integrative approaches to deal with the complexity of street vending. This thesis aimed to explore more effective and inclusive strategies for regulating street vending in cities in response to this call. The study shows that street vending activities in Ghana are growing substantively due to rapid informal urbanization and the lack of employment opportunities for youth in the cities. However, the regulation of these informal activities are characterized by ambiguous regulatory frameworks: on the one hand, they quite endure vending, on the other hand, intolerance due to the pursuit of modernity and world-class cities. The result further indicated that policies trajectories of Ghana ardently contributed to the ambivalent actions and exclusion of street vending in the cities. Learning from emerging practices, the analysis of the case studies – The Indian National Policy/Act on Street Vendors, Warwick Urban Renewal Project and Memorandum of Understanding between the street vendors association (FEPTIWUL) and Monrovia City Corporation) – indicated that street vending can be effectively managed if policies turn to be more inclusive and spatially integrating vending spaces in cities rather than the repressive methods. The lessons from the case studies are juxtaposed with the experience of Ghana to develop a robust policy strategy for regulating street vending in Ghanaian cities. Four key policy strategies are recommended; (1) A national policy on the street vending, (2) demarcate vending sites and recognize natural emerged vending sites in cities and spatially integrate them at all levels of urban planning, (3) Design and develop structures infrastructure for street vendors, and (4) involve street vendors in the urban policy process and harness their potential in managing urban spaces.| File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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https://hdl.handle.net/10589/184060