A planning approach to re-envisioning street vendor spaces in Cairo

Abstract

Urban regeneration has been an accepted strategy for reviving cities around the globe for decades. In Egypt, the local government in Cairo has launched many regeneration projects: mainly focusing on the formalisation and relocation of street vendors to new public markets. This research tackles the relationship between the design of alternative public markets and the behaviours and needs of street vendors. Six cases in Cairo city, Egypt (El Tunisi, Kasr El Nile, El Turjuman, Ahmed Helmy, Toshka and Ain Helwan, and Misr Street) are analysed using various methods such as observation, surveys, questionnaires and group discussions. The aim is to investigate the reasons behind the failure of alternative markets in Cairo city over the past few years. The results show that unprofitable locations was one crucial factor that led to the rejection of enclosed public markets. Additionally, it was found that the needs of street vendors were not taken into account in the urban design, which provoked street vendors to abandon the alternative markets and strive to fulfil their unsatisfied needs. Another issue is the lack of a strategy to encourage street vendors to participate in the relocation process, which has resulted in vendors abandoning new markets, leading to more economic losses. The research presents a new perspective regarding planning and designing such vital public market spaces that serve a broad sector of the Egyptian community, in an effort to prevent the growth of the informal sector and to ensure the sustainability of regeneration efforts in these markets.