Spatial stratification of street vendors in downtown Mexico City

The fight for space between city administrators and street vendors working in city centers is one of the major controversies about street commerce. Trying to renew and upgrade their downtowns, city administrators of most urban areas have attempted to relocate street vendors from central areas to peripheries, from the streets to indoor public markets. That attempt has almost always found fierce opposition among street vendors, who claim that entering into contact with the greatest number of pedestrians is the key to successful street vending. Most scholars studying street vendors have not questioned such a proposition; on the contrary, they have somehow taken it for granted. Yet, a comparison of four street vendor groups -- two located in the most accessible areas and two in less accessible areas of downtown Mexico City -- revels that street vendors with a more limited access to customers can obtained better working conditions and economic results than others who are located in most accessible areas. The following factors explain the better results of the street vendors located in the less accessible areas of downtown Mexico City. First, street vendors located in the less accessible areas have easier access to storage space, more room for large stalls and are less likely to have their goods confiscated by the police.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2007

Author dc:creator

• Baroni, Bruno Nazim

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Diane E. Davis.

• Urban Studies and Planning.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/39932

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/39932