World Urban Forum

First and foremost, it is important to recognize street vending as one of many interconnected components of an urban economy. Street vending not only generates livelihoods for vendors themselves, but also for porters, guards, and cleaners, among others. Street vendors distribute goods made in the formal economy as well as the informal economy – including goods produced by home-based workers, who are also overwhelmingly women (http://wiego.org/informal-economy/occupational-groups/home-based-workers). In many urban spaces, street vendors are the only source of low-cost goods in small quantities. They may also be the only source of fresh produce for households in low-income areas. So while street vending generates public policy problems where it is poorly governed, it is also crucial to recognize the range of positive contributions that street vending makes (http://wiego.org/informal-economy/occupational-groups/street-vendors).

One possibility for helping to mainstream gender in the street vending sector is to support women's leadership of member-based organizations of street vendors. A positive example of this is the Women's Network (Red de Mujeres) of Lima, Peru (see Briefing Note No. 2 at http://www.inclusivecities.org/notes.html). More generally, where policy processes have included democratic, representative member-based organizations of street vendors in a meaningful way, better outcomes have resulted. At present, StreetNet International and its affiliates are holding a series of dialogues to produce a 'New Manifesto' that will help vendors engage in the policy process (http://streetnet.org.za/).

Well said Sally! At the same time I would stress that with proper city planning and policy street vending can be carried out (so that all of the benefits you point out are realized) in a manner that does not cause problems. Encouraging this helps the poor, especially women that engage in these trades.

Some provisions have been made for these vendors In many countries; street vendors are relocated to public markets or buildings that are privately owned and converted to off-street markets under the aegis of municipal programs. Once they move off the streets, these vendors are typically referred to as market vendors or micro entrepreneurs, although their businesses otherwise remain much the same. In official statistics in some countries, street vendors are a subset of the category “informal traders,” which also includes people who trade from their homes and we all know how important informal trading is important in the planning system.
Many work long hours from the same site on a daily basis. These vendors and their families typically rely on profits from vending as their primary source of household income

First of all I fully agree with Sally Roever when she says that “it is important to recognize street vending as one of many interconnected components of an urban economy.” Public vendors, and maybe more significantly in Latin American countries, conform a huge sector in the urban economy, but we have got to restrain them in specific areas with specific rules, such as having a particular image, a particular dress code, a particular timetable for selling and most import of all, a particular area to occupy in the specific sector of the city. They also have got to pay some taxes for the municipality and very importantly they CAN NOT have a permanent permission which could derive in some property title.