Exploring the theories, determinants and policy options of street vending: A demand-side approach

Abstract

Street vending has become an increasingly common feature of urban centres for several decades, with a relatively high proportion of developing countries’ populations depending on it for employment, income or survival. Taking a supply-side approach, studies have shown that the responses of urban planners to street vending have followed the modernism theory. In this paper, we take a demand-side (buyer-focused) approach to studying street vending, which has received little attention to date from the academic community. Employing data from Lagos state, Nigeria, we report four explanations underpinning the demand side of street vending: formal economy failures, social/redistributive explanations, financial gains and a multifeature explanation. These are, in turn, explained by the marital status, level of education and perception of individuals. Our findings highlight the need for urban planners to embrace pragmatic policies in addressing these demand-side drivers of street vending and use of urban space, rather than criminalising its actors.

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