Sidewalk Informality: An Examination of Street Vending Regulation in China

Abstract

Street vending represents a vital and growing aspect of the urban informal economy that is often the subject of municipal regulatory efforts that seek to control, confine or extinguish it. In the People's Republic of China, recent developments and discussions on vendor rights and regulation underscore important socio-political and economic changes and concerns around the role of the informal economy in this country. As more of China's rural poor enter urban areas and turn to the streets to survive, the number of unlicensed vendors has risen and municipal efforts at increased regulation and enforcement of street vending licensure have been enacted. These developments within the context of China's 'state-capitalist economy' provide a fertile field for research into the informal economy, use and re-appropriation of public space, and regulation of a previously marginalized commercial activity. This paper draws from primary and secondary sources to provide an overview of street vending in China and consider the implications of recent regulatory developments and public dialogue that strive to formalize the informal.

Negotiating Space and Visibility: Forms of Informality in Public Space

“…In many cities, according to Bayat [30], state authorities attempt to wage a protracted war against street traders (p. 54); to enforce policies to eliminate them from public spaces, and to place them in state-controlled markets or marginal places. This links to the ways in which street traders are viewed as "out of place" within "modern" cities [10] where their eviction is often justified under the guise of a "global city" image [8,27,46], democratization of public space [6] (p. 345), urban aesthetics and public health [47,48], safety and control of economic activities [49]. It has been argued that the inclination of the state to eliminate street traders is driven by desires to tax the informal market, ease traffic congestion, control quality and legality of products, stop the privatization of public space, prevent unfair competition with formal retailers, and cleanse the image of the city [20].…”

Informality and the state’s ambivalence in the regulation of street vending in transforming Guangzhou, China

“…Since 2006, the underlying contradictions have aroused opposing voices regarding the regulation of street vending from both official and public sides in China, particularly in Guangzhou and Beijing (Bell and Loukaitou-Sideris, 2014). For instance, on December 19, 2006, a Guangzhou local media institution sponsored an open meeting regarding the street vending management with the purpose of ''making suggestions for the building of a civilized and harmonious Guangzhou'' (Xinkuai News, 2006).…”

Access and Forms of Urbanity in Public Space: Transit Urban Design Beyond the Global North

“…Hence, exposure to new experiences and capacities of urbanity through a wide range of actions and appropriations is likely within station areas. This is particularly the case in the station areas of the global South cities where spontaneous activities such as street trading variously emerge from outside state control [48].…”