Document Type : Applied Article
Authors
- Andrew Gilbert Were 1
- Stephen Mukiibi 1
- Barnabas Nawangwe 1
- Paul Isolo Mukwaya 2
- Bridget Nakangu 1
- Juliana Nambatya 1
- Daniel Kisitu 2
1 Department of Architecture and Physical Planning, College of Engineering, Design, Art, and Technology, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.
2 Department of Geography Geoinformatics and Climatic Sciences, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.
Abstract
This paper presents a 'spontaneous location' theory to explain the choice and appropriation of street spaces by street vendors for their private enterprises in the central division of Kampala city. It provides for how street space locations are chosen and acquired for vending activities. To attain an appropriate sample size, the concept of saturation was used, whereby respondents were selected based on the type of goods sold, how goods were sold, the street occupied, time of vending, gender, age, and spatial distribution on the streets. Subsequently, 90 respondents were sampled from 30 streets. The selection of streets was based on the existing land uses the intensity of vending, and their spatial distribution. In the study, direct observations and interviews were used to collect data. Reference was made to location theories and business location decisions. Results indicate that street vendors tend to locate their enterprises on roads and paths with high human traffic that offers a market for their goods. We conclude that the ambiguity of government agencies towards street vendors and the audacity of street vendors as citizens with rights to urban space could promote more random locations of street enterprises and set a stage for further street space use contestation. To avert further conflict arising from the appropriation of spaces, we recommend that streets identified by street vendors for their street enterprises be assessed for feasibility and valorized by city authorities to allow the enterprises to take place and generate revenue for the city.
Keywords
Main Subjects
Barrios, A., Blocker, P. C. (2015). Contextual Value of Social Capital for Subsistence Entrepreneur Mobility. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 34(2), 272-286. Sage Publications.
Bhowmik, S.K. (2010). Street vendors in the global urban economy, Routledge.
Bollnow, O. F. (1961). Lived space. Philosophy today, 5(1), 31-39.
Bourdieu, P. (1983). Forms of social capital. In: Richards JC (ed) Handbook of theory and research for the sociology of education. New York: Greenwood Press.
Bourdieu, P. (1986). The forms of capital. In a handbook of theory and research for the sociology of education. Richardson, G. J. (Ed). Westport, CT: Greenwood.
Bromley, R. (2000). Street Vending and Public Policy: A Global Review. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 20(1/2), 1-28.
Dasgupta, N. (1992). Linkage, heterogeneity and income determinants in petty trading: The case of Calcutta. World Development, 20(10), 1443-1461.
Dubé, J., Brunelle, C., & Legros, D. (2016). Location theories and business location decision: A micro-spatial investigation of a nonmetropolitan area in Canada. Review of Regional Studies, 46(2), 143-170.
Eidse, N., & Turner, S. (2014). Doing resistance their own way: counter‐narratives of street vending in Hanoi, Vietnam through solicited journaling. Area, 46(3), 242-248.
Flyvbjerg, B. (2006). Five misunderstandings about case-study research. Qualitative inquiry, 12(2), 219-245.
Foldvary, E. F. (2006). Street smart: Competition, entrepreneurship and the future of roads. Transaction publishers. New Brunswick, USA.
Gannon, B., & Roberts, J. (2020). Social capital: exploring the theory and empirical divide. Empirical Economics, 58(3), 899-919.
Goodfellow, T. (2010). 'The bastard child of nobody'?: Anti-Planning and the Institutional Crisis in Contemporary Kampala. Cities and Fragile States - Crisis States Research Centre, 2 (67). 1-28.
Gumisiriza, P. (2021). Street vending in Kampala: From corruption to crisis. Center African Studies Quarterly, 20(1), 81-100.
Holston, J. (2009). Insurgent citizenship in an era of global urban peripheries. City & Society, 21(2), 245-267.
Igudia, E. O. (2020). Exploring the theories, determinants and policy options of street vending: A demand-side approach. Urban Studies, 57(1), 56-74.
Igué, O. J. (1983). 'L'officiel, le parallele et le clandestin'. Politique africain, 9, 29-51.
Ismail, G. (2020). Economic Transformation, Globalisation, Health. Time to rethink street vending: lessons from Uganda.
Jacobs, J. (1992). The death and life of great American cities. Vantage Books, New York.
Kabanda, U. (2017). Evolution of the Ugandan government, its regulatory role to the formal and informal sector in managing trade and production. Social Science Review, 3(2).
Kostof, S. (1992). The City Assembled. The elements of urban form through history. Uk: Thames & Hudson Ltd.
Lefebvre, H. (1996). Writings on cities. (E. Kofman & E. Lebas, Trans.). Cambridge, MA: Blackwell.
Malasan, P. L. (2019). The untold flavour of street food: Social infrastructure as a means of everyday politics for street vendors in Bandung, Indonesia. Asia Pacific Viewpoint, 60(1), 51-64.
Mbaye, M. A. & Benjamin, N. (2014). The Informal Sector, Growth, Employment, and Sustainable Development: A discussion note prepared for the International Organization of La Francophonie.
Mbembe, A. (2001). On the Postcolony. USA: University of California Press.
Mitullah, W. V. (2003). Street vending in African cities: A synthesis of empirical finding from Kenya, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Uganda, and South Africa. Washington, DC: World Bank. © World Bank.
Muktiwibowo, A. K. (2013). Governing the Street Space Contestation and Conflict through the Empowerment of Indigenous Community in Bali-Indonesia. Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, 4(9), 56.
Paxton, P. (1999). Is social capital declining in the United States? A multiple indicator assessment. American Journal of Sociology, 105(1), 88-127.
Peck, J., Theodore, N., & Brenner, N. (2009). Neoliberal Urbanism. The SAIS Review of International Affairs, 29(1), 49-66.
Purcell, M. (2014). Possible worlds: Henri Lefebvre and the right to the city. Journal of urban affairs, 36(1), 141-154.
Putnam, R. D. (2000). Bowling alone: The collapse and revival of American community. Simon and Schuster.
Roitman, J. L. (1990). The politics of informal markets in sub-Saharan Africa. The Journal of Modern African Studies, 28(4), 671-696.
Saha, D. (2011). Working life of street vendors in Mumbai. The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, 54(2), 301-325.
SIHA Network (2018). The invisible labourers of Kampala. A research paper on women street vendors in Kampala.
Taylor, T. F. (1978). The Struggle for Economic Control of Uganda, 1919-1922: Formulation of an Economic Policy. The International Journal of African Historical Studies, 11(1), 1-31.
UBOS (2020). Background to the budget 2020-2021. Ministry of Finance Planning and Economic Development.
Williams, C. C., & Gurtoo, A. (2012). Evaluating competing theories of street entrepreneurship: some lessons from a study of street vendors in Bangalore, India. International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, 8(4), 391-409.
Williams, C. C., & Martinez-Perez, A. (2014). Why do consumers purchase goods and services in the informal economy?. Journal of Business Research, 67(5), 802-806.
Yin, R. (2003). Case Study Research. Design and Methods. 3rd Edition. Sage; London, UK.
Youe, C. P. (1979). Colonial economic policy in Uganda after World War I: a reassessment. The International Journal of African Historical Studies, 12(2), 270-276.
Young, G. (2018). De-democratisation and the rights of street vendors in Kampala, Uganda. The International Journal of Human Rights, 22(8), 1007-1029.
)