Metaspace, Mobility and Resistance: Understanding Vendors’ Movement Pattern as a Resistive Strategy in Kano, Nigeria

Abstract

The street vendor’s (SV) potential mobility in subverting authorities’ hegemony over public space has been theorised within the contexts of urban informality and resistance. Discussions mainly revolve around movement tactics as resistance strategy while evading arrests and confiscations. This negates SV agency and limits understanding mobility in resistance. Using Bunschoten’s metaspace and Cresswell’s aspects of mobility, this paper employs semi-structured interviews with mobile SV, road users and pedestrians in Kano (Nigeria), to describe vendors’ mobile practices and how they delay hostility from the state. Observing the interplay between vendors, users and environment, this paper identifies four types of vendor movement: focused, targeted, sporadic and self-regulatory; and examines how vendors exploit Cresswell’s speed and rhythm in challenging formal urban practice hegemony through continuous operation. The paper also describes how vendors’ movement affects other actors’ mobilities. Finally, the paper discusses urban design implications for integrating SV within city plans, setting out potential proposals.

The resolution of the transition conflict from tourism to mining in Pangkal Niur Village through the strengthening of social capital

“…The potential environmental damage caused by illegal mining has prompted a community movement to resist(Balarabe & Sahin 2020, Park & Chung 2022, Parth & Singh 2023. The burning of the Ponton ship in 2019 marked the beginning of the Pangkal Niur community's resistance to illegal mining activities, with support from other villages, such as Pusuk Village, Berbura Village, and Jebus Village, which also experienced similar impacts.…”