In developing states of Southeast Asia, street vendors play a significant but frequently unappreciated role in both the vibrancy of public spaces as well as the informal economy. Yet, they are subject to indiscriminate purges from sidewalks and other contested territories, which they occupy for lack of provision of spaces in which they could otherwise do business. But such occurrences, and the conflicts that may follow, can be addressed by revisiting policies, which seem anti-vendor or which fail to comprehend their presence and needs. This research studied street vendors of one of the active commuter interchanges of Metro Manila, the Monumento Station area in Caloócan City, framing their needs, issues and aspirations against existing laws. Simultaneously examined were typical uses of shifting, often contested stretches of roads, corners, and easements where hawkers, among other users, daily negotiate a claim to the city's space.

The presence of street vending in the urban global South indicates a vibrant economy that is often tagged as informal. When situated in the larger contexts, it persists in an atmosphere of poverty and inequality. Amid the social conditions that produce economic vulnerability, how do state institutions regulate urban informal vending? What policies do they enforce to manage the insecurity, resilience and resistance of street vendors? What are the emerging patterns from these regulations? This paper presents and analyzes a set of policy epistemologies based on state rules on informal vending in selected global South cities. Building on the structuration theory, the paper draws from secondary data and demonstrates that understanding policy orientations in urban informality requires looking into the structure-agency interaction. It points out the theoretical and empirical implications of this approach to urban studies and planning research. It proffers a post-dualist lens in examining rules, relations, and interests in urban informality.

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As governments around the globe navigate the effects of COVID‐19 crisis, the urban poor endure the unevenly distributed socio‐economic impacts of the pandemic. This burden is more pronounced in Global South megacities, where millions of people engage in precarious informal employment. We examine how the urban poor in Delhi (India), Dhaka (Bangladesh), and Manila (Philippines) have been disproportionately affected by the crisis. A cross‐case analysis was undertaken to determine how the realities and relations of one context can enrich our understanding of the other. We argue that the current COVID‐19 pandemic has exposed the unequal urban citizenship in these three metropolises. Drawing on research reports, news articles, and interviews with urban poor leaders, we explain how limited government assistance has forced some to retreat to their rural hometowns or rely on self‐help and mutual aid practices to survive. We consider the patterns both in governments’ treatment of impoverished citizens and in the unjust effects of lockdown enforcement on marginalised populations. We also discuss the roles that women and non‐government organisations (NGOs) have played in facilitating solidarity‐based practices to help urban poor communities cope with COVID‐19 vulnerabilities.