Home Themed issues Negotiating Streets and Space in First, the paper presents the general development of street vending in the two transnational commercial centralities. Then, it analyses the unsettled and often tense relationships between street vendors and urban authorities, where the control of public space and, through it, the control of the city at large is at stake. Finally, it highlights the complex power relationships between street vendors and official traders who compete for marketplace access.
In summary, while facing an ever-changing environment filled with contradictions, street vendors constantly have to negotiate their place in these two marketplaces, and through them, in the city. Street trading is also one of the most visible occupations in the informal economy Roever and Skinner , as it takes place in public space, which is subject to frequent repression from urban authorities and police Brown , , Blot and Spire In North African cities, street trade activities have been developing for the past twenty years, as a response to economic crises Daguzan , Talahite and Hammadache , Gana-Oueslati and Moisseron and reduction in employment opportunities, especially for the youth ILO They have transformed cityscapes progressively and deeply.
Additionally, the political unrest in the MENA region has impacted indirectly Algeria Volpi , , and street vending has encountered a similar spatial expansion in city centres since Oran, the second most important city in the country, has thus witnessed the development of these informal activities in its central districts. These areas have become centralities of transnational trade between North Africa and South-East Asia since the end of the 20th century Pliez , Belguidoum and Pliez In Egypt, with a population of 90 million, this market potentially gathers 40 million people Pliez , Street vending has accompanied the urban and commercial boom of these two marketplaces.
It has thus tried to grab some of the important commercial dynamism that prevails in these two marketplaces by locating itself at the heart or in the margins of these two central urban markets and by appropriating massively the streets. Map 1. Al-Muski, a transnational trade centrality in Cairo, Egypt: location map.
Source: author, , edited Map 2. Source: Original Map: author, , F. Troin, , edited by the author in Indeed, both in Algeria and in Egypt, despite two very different political contexts, state involvement in urban production and management is very strong, as a policy-maker, law and regulations producer and urban planner Signoles et al.
