OFFICE TRAINING PORTFOLIO
Study of an Urban Issue Urban Informal sector and street vendors
Office training at: Snehal Shah Architect M.C. Shah House, 1/B Avantika Society, Naranpura, Ahmedabad
Submitted by: Ankit Pokar AR5413 Semester 10 School of Architecture, Vadodara Design Academy.
Urban Informal sector and street vendors
1. Introduction 1.1 Introduction and Background 1.2 Street Vendors 1.3 Categories of street vendors 1.4 Opportunities of street vending 1.5 Factors promoting street vending 1.6 Problems for street vendors 1.7 Problems caused by street vendors
2. Introduction - Ahmedabad’s scenario 2.1 Ahmedabad - The City
3. Case Study – Bhadra Plaza 3.1 Introduction 3.2 History 3.3 Bhadra PLaza 3.4 Allocation of street vendors 3.5 Activity Mapping 3.6 Accessibility to Bhadra Plaza 3.7 Shadow analysis 3.8 Traffic movement 3.9 Congested Edges 3.10 Conclusion
Professional Training - Urban Informal sector and street vendors - Ankit Pokar AR5413
Snehal Shah Architect - Ahmedabad
1. Introduction
1.3 Categories of street vendors
1.1 Introduction and Background
Although street vendors classification can be possible on various factors but here they have been classified on the basis of their mobility and working duration: •Those Street Vendors who carryout vending on a regular basis with a specific location •Those Street Vendors who carry out vending not on a regular basis and with out any specific location, for example, vendors who sell goods in weekly bazaars during holidays and festivals. •The Mobile Street Vendors.
“Street vendors form a very important segment of the unauthorized sector in the country. It is estimated that in several cities street vendors count for about 2 per cent of the population. Women constitute a large segment of these street vendors in almost every city. Street vending is not only a source of self-employment to the poor in cities and towns but also a means to provide ‘affordable’ as well as ‘convenient’ services to majority of the urban population”. modern street vending plays a vital role in the urban economy, as a source of jobs, revenue and ‘value added’ to the economy. Street vending provides a flexible link in economic supply chains, gives vitality to urban streets, and provides affordable goods for many urban residents. Yet street vending exacerbates congestion at busy sites (eg: city centres where competition for space is acute) and vendors lack the facilities for ‘decent work’.
Lady street vender
POSITIVE ASPECTS Type of street vendors
60% ECONOMIC DISTRIBUTION
HINDERANCE IN CITY MANAGEMENT
SERVICE AT LOW COST
ENCHROCHING PUBLIC SPACES
EASILY APPROCHABLE
1.4 Opportunities of street vending Street vending provides many opportunities: goods and services at convenient locations, and affordable prices; self-employment for large numbers of people; links formal sector with clients; keeps streets clean, busy and safe, creates an interesting city environment.
EFFECT ON PUBLIC SECTOR REVENUE
street vending – as an occupation
1.2 Street Vendors
Interesting city environment
Employment for many people
Keeps street busy
Provide affordable goods.
Outlet for formal sector goods.
Available at convenient location.
A street vendor is broadly defined as a person who offers goods for sale to the public at large without having a permanent built-up structure from which to sell. The Street vendors maybe stationary in the sense that they occupy space on the pavements or other public/ private spaces or, they maybe mobile in the sense that move from place to place by carrying their wares on push carts or in baskets on their heads.
Professional Training - Urban Informal sector and street vendors - Ankit Pokar AR5413
Snehal Shah Architect - Ahmedabad
2 Introduction - Ahmedabad’s scenario
1.5 Factors promoting street vending The driving forces behind street vending as with the informal economy as a whole are diverse. The following were cited by street traders as the main driving forces behind street trade in Harare: • Quick and easy avenue to earn subsistence income • Social system for the under-privileged urban dwellers • Failure to find jobs in the formal economy • Response to known demand from customers who prefer open-air environment of shopping • Low barriers to entry which makes street vending are fuge occupation • Easy accessibility and low initial capital requirements • More flexible and/or attractive employment option than wage wok • No over head costs of rentals, rates and sometimes licensing fees • Flexibility of working hours allows women(especially housewives)to fulfil their household car chores • Redundancies or retrenchments caused mainly by economic crisis
1.6 Problems for street vendors Lack of space (eg: surfaced pavements and secure vending sites) and lack of facilities (eg: shelter, street drainage, water and toilets, or storage) cause major problems for vendors.
No furniture.
No space for street vendors.
No storm water runoff.
1.7 Problems caused by street vendors Vending also takes up street space, blocking pavement and parking space and causing congestion for other road users.
No parking space and no walking space.
Professional Training - Urban Informal sector and street vendors - Ankit Pokar AR5413
2.1 Ahmedabad - The City Ahmedabad is the seventh largest metropolis in India, and the largest of the State of Gujarat, with an estimated population of 6.35 million in 2011 and an urban area of over 466sqkm. Ahmedabad is the main commercial and business city of Gujarat, which is considered a model state in India from the perspective of economic development and economic freedom(Debroyetal.,2011). The city is frequently cited in good practice or innovative projects discussion. A decade back, city’s BRTS has received national and global recognition. Besides that the city has received national award for the economically weaker section housing under the basic services for the Urban Poor (BSUP) component of the JNNURM.
Vending markets - Ahmedabad
The vision of the world class cities does not have space for informal sector. The cities of Ahmedabad have latched onto one such vision and hence support projects that have caused massive displacements of the live and live hood of the poor. “The once-inclusive city, thriving on philanthropy, voluntary organizations and participatory efforts for development, has become an exclusive and excluding city. Social dialogue has ceased, and partnerships between the state government and civil society have fallen apart; there is now more state civil society confrontation than cooperation. The industrial working class has lost its collective voice in the decision-making processes.” On top of it, the city has become communally segregated, with the Muslim population largely moving into the segregated ghettos. The outcome is that the urban poverty in Ahmedabad remains acute in 1998 it was estimates that about 60 percent of households fell below the poverty line(AMC and AUDA 2003: 71). Since 1991 the number of slums has decreased tp 710 identified slums, but the population of slum dwellers has nearly doubled, estimated in 2001 to be around 906,000 people, about 26 per cent of the AMC population. An additional 1m people lives in chawls, tenement housing originally built for mill workers is often sub-standard (AMC and AUDA 2003 : 73). Thus, city has a large poverty burden and the city therefore needs to support STREET VENDORS who have found answer to their own poverty situation. Ahmedabad has been recently ranked was the 3rd fastest growing city by Forbes Lists. The local government has undertaken many ambitious projects like the Sabarmati Riverfront project and Bus Rapid Transit System and requalification projects like the Kankaria Lake and Bhadra Plaza at uplift The city’s real-estate and redefining the city’s look and ambiance but also accommodating contradictory needs. As current dilemmaisto‘promote the city’s image to develop market and simultaneously accommodate the needs of the urban poor’. Street vending is an ecosystem by itself, providing employment and essential commodities at affordable prices, indeed it has been an intemperate activities incedecades. After decades of struggle their right to the street has been recently recognized by the Street Vendors Bill – 2014. Snehal Shah Architect - Ahmedabad
3. Case Study – Bhadra Plaza 3.1 Introduction Bhadra Fort is situated in the walled city area of Ahmedabad, India. It was built by Ahmad Shah I in 1411. With its well carved royal palaces, mosques, gates and open spaces, it was renovated in 2014 by Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) and Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) as a cultural centre for the city.
Heritage Monuments in and around Bhadra Plaza
3.3 Bhadra PLaza
Map showing Bhadra Plaza
3.2 History
Map of walled city of Ahmedabad
Bhadra is one of the largest market are a stretching from Bhadra Fort to the Lal Darwaja, which is one of the main city public bus, called the AMTS, terminus. There is another continuous market from Bhadra Fort eastwards to a second gate, called Teen Darwaja, and then eastwards to link with the cloth markets, and the central jewellery and vegetable markets of Manek Chowk. Bhadra is one of the oldest markets in the walled city, with a predominance of Muslim traders. The main commodities sold are new clothes, household goods, shoes and sandals, and fashion accessories.
Locating market places nearby Bhadra Plaza
Showing events of Significance Professional Training - Urban Informal sector and street vendors - Ankit Pokar AR5413
Before 2012 and After 2014 Redevelopment plan Snehal Shah Architect - Ahmedabad
3.4 Allocation of street vendors Sellers start to gather early. Depending on activities they gather in deferent points at a different time of the day. Near temples they gather earlier to provide their customers with required goods for a morning ritual. Near permanent shops and road junctions they gather at a later time. Permanent v/s temporary hawkers
Plan showing Hawkers at Bhadra Plaza
Hawkers at Bhadra Plaza
Functioning of the plaza – Before and After
Professional Training - Urban Informal sector and street vendors - Ankit Pokar AR5413
Location of hawkers gives us the notion of activities on the site. They tend to stand near vertical survaces or boundaries. They use edges and later during the day they become part of the edges themselves. Some edges provide more possibilities like space, shade, intimacy etc. Thus shrinking the space by growing in numbers - hawkers – contribute much to overall lifecycle of density on Bhadra square. Snehal Shah Architect - Ahmedabad
Bhadra Market is multiple goods’ market, and every commodity sold in the shops, which have been there traditionally, is also sold on the street. It is in vicinity of a very large cloth and clothes market (Dhalgarvad) and hence these commodities have also spilled over on to the main streets.
3.5 Activity Mapping
GENDER OF VENDORS
3.5.1 Morning activities - Bhadra Plaza MALE FEMALE
New clothes, ladies accessories, home decorations, household wares, shoes, key makers, etc.
Early Morning all Lari’s closed . Gender differences at Bhadra.
Vendors ages
18 - 24 25 - 34 35 - 54 55+
Vendors age difference.
Almost half the traders interviewed were in the 35-54-year age group (49%), the main age of family responsibilities, with a significant group of older traders of 55 or over (16%) . This age distribution suggests that vending is a main occupation . Bhadra has elderly vendors as this market is well established over a long period and the older vendors continue vend here. It is possible that new entrants find difficult to enter this market on account of elder vendors and hence there is a small proportion of young vendors in this market.
Lari’s closed and people sitting on the road.
3.4.1 Type of vending facilities at Bhadra Plaza Some vendors had a temporary structure to protect them and their goods such as an umbrella or a plastic sheet covering. Otherwise, the vendors are all exposed to elements of nature while vending. This means that in summer they would carry on their business during the evenings and the mornings. It also means that the business is not possible during monsoons.
T Y P E O F D I S P L AY B Y MARKETS Plaza getting cleaned every morning.
On Ground
On Wall
Box
Table
Kiosk
Bicycle
Lari
Others
Typ e o f ve n d i n g f a c i l i t i e s - f i xe d a n d m o b i l i t y Protection over vending tents, umbrella, other
facility
Display categories Professional Training - Urban Informal sector and street vendors - Ankit Pokar AR5413
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covered, Plan showing Morning Activity at Bhadra Plaza. Vender’s opening there lari’s. Snehal Shah Architect - Ahmedabad
3.5.1 Afternoon/Evening Activities– Bhadra Plaza
3.5.2 Night Activities– Bhadra Plaza
Early Afternoon scenario.
Heavy Rush slowly getting slow down.
Street view.
Chappal Bazaar.
Internal street lightened up with less congestion.
Congestion on streets.
Slowly Market getting closed.
Afternoon/Evening Activity at Bhadra Plaza.
Congestion at Bhadra Plaza –full Street with people and vendor’s.
Professional Training - Urban Informal sector and street vendors - Ankit Pokar AR5413
Plan showing Night Activity at Bhadra Plaza.
Snehal Shah Architect - Ahmedabad
3.6 Accessibility to Bhadra Plaza
3.8 Traffic movement
Plan showing Accessibility to Bhadra Plaza.
Traffic movement - Morning – 7:30 am- 11:00 am
3.7 Shadow analysis
By shading analysis we simply see that the southern edges - during the day time - provide significant amount of shaded spaces. This serves as one of the reasons to sellers to allocate themselves closer to southern edges of Bhadra square. Places that are shaded during the longest period of the day host more static tables. On the other hand places exposed to sun hist mobile street furniture. The event can also easily be traced by observing the lifecycle of shading devices and tents. Professional Training - Urban Informal sector and street vendors - Ankit Pokar AR5413
Showing shadow pattern created at Bhadra Market.
Traffic movement - Afternoon/Evening – 1:00 pm- 6:00 pm
Shadow on the street
Traffic movement - Night – 6:00 pm – 10:00pm
Snehal Shah Architect - Ahmedabad
3.9 Congested Edges
3.10 Conclusion Strength
Opportunity
• Regulated and a healthy vending environment where the city can collaborate with informal sector in the foregrounds of history. • Entire plaza is pedestrian mostly. • Vendors are managed and registered.
• Daring and first of the kind designed approach to such a site and a big opportunity lies in taking the same approach to the surrounding market areas could result in better management of the entire precinct.
Weakness
Threat
•
• Mismanagement will ruin the plaza and the money spend on it due to misuse.
Unable to accommodate the number of vendors. • Unable to manage the number of vendors on weekends and holidays when markets gets very busy. • The pedestrian plaza is opened for two-wheelers passage due to heavy rush on busy market days. • Less provision for parking
Professional Training - Urban Informal sector and street vendors - Ankit Pokar AR5413
Snehal Shah Architect - Ahmedabad