Urban Management of Informal Commercial Public Spaces

Abstract

Urban Management is the act of taking sustainable action to reach a certain goal. The core objectives of urban management are seen as understanding dynamic urban processes and developing effective interventions that contribute to the sustainability of urban development. In many cities all over the world, urban public space has become the place of work of the urban poor. In these places of work, a set of processes arise due to a need for a hierarchy to organize and sustain the urging needs of the urban poor. As chaotic as these processes may seem at first glance, they are planned and are constantly modified according to needs and repeated mistakes. Through some studying and monitoring to these places one can find some concepts from urban management being applied, with further modification and effort, this thesis suggests room for improvement. This thesis seeks to examine how street vendors use public space for their livelihood. The research is carried out in the Cairo metropolis, a nodal commercial center, with proliferation of street vending activities. The study employs a variety of research methodologies in gathering the data, including personal observation, focus groups, surveys of different stakeholders, and a field survey with a sample of street vendors. This is an attempt to understand the current state of informal commercial public spaces, the typology of street vendors and compile a series of similar case studies from cities around the world in reflection with the case of Cairo. Keywords: Urban Public Space; Street Vending; Urban Management; Livelihood Strategy.