The space-time relations between pedestrians and street vendors: a case study in Suihua, China
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Date
2019
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AESOP
Abstract
This paper is set in a broad scope of urban walkability research related to street vending practices. How are urban streets temporarily re-calibrated by mobile street vendors and dynamically used by the presence of pedestrians? The empirical basis and temporary data are lacking at a microscale. Using on-site observation and behaviour mapping, this study incorporates both social and physical elements to provide a fine-grained picture of human activity in urban spaces where street vendors operate. This compares the space-time patterns of street activities during four daily periods of three urban street spaces in the smaller Chinese city of Suihua. The empirical evidence produced reveals two co-operations of environment-behaviour interactions (e.g. micro-climates and street characteristics) and socio-spatial relations (e.g. the presence of street vendors and pedestrians). This study interprets a notion of flux in patterns of vending-walking relations, which could reveal an alternative understanding of Chinese urban walkable space via the temporary practices of street vendors. This knowledge and its application of designing active street spaces could benefit future policy-making and urban design practitioners.
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Keywords
transient walkable space, urban walkability, everyday street activity, street vending