Recommendations for spatial planning norms of street vending plan

Abstract

The need for inclusion of street vendors in the urban planning process has been acknowledged through the Street Vendor’s Act of 2014, which directs responsibilities to urban local bodies to prepare street vending plans at the ward and zonal level every five years. Even though the Act introduces much-needed basis for the planning of street vendors through ‘no vending zone’, ‘restriction-free zone’, ‘restricted vending zone," and ‘holding capacity’ in terminology; it does not provide any basis for the "determination of spatial planning norms’ for street vending plans. As per the Act, pedestrian, traffic count, and road width are considered the only quantifiable basis for zoning, which excludes the effect of spatial configuration on street vending. Existing literature talks about policy measures to include vendors, the socioeconomic scenario of vendors, and the location choice of vendors, but fails to provide any basis for determining spatial planning norms. If planners knew how to predict occurrence of street vendors based on the spatial configuration of one area, it would be possible for them to develop planning strategies for Street Vending Plan. This thesis dwells on the research question of how spatial configuration impacts street vending locations, considering Old Bhopal as a case example. Spatial configuration parameters like street network, land use, and built form have been considered as these are related to the concept of space utilization by vendors and movement. To understand how such aspects impact vending, microscale urban analysis has been done using the space syntax method for street networks, urban porosity for built form, and land use diversity. A Poisson regression analysis has been done with the mentioned parameters as independent variables and the no of stationary street vendors as a dependent variable. Analysis reveals that a percentage of residential land use has a negative impact, while degree of permeability, i.e., the percentage of openings on the ground floor facing the street has a positive and significant impact on the no of stationary vendors. The integration measure of space syntax has a positive but very less significant impact on street vending. With the help of this regression equation, it is possible to predict the no of stationary street vendors in any area based on spatial configuration. This thesis contributes to the methodology of preparing street vending plans, adds knowledge to the concept of the economic value of streets, and contributes to the literature on the effect of spatial configuration on socioeconomic aspects. Recommendations were given for the Old Bhopal Street Vending Plan, which can be followed and implemented by the Bhopal Municipal Corporation through stakeholder meetings with Bhopal Town Vending Committee and police.