How to plan and manage street vending activities in central division of Kampala City - Uganda

Abstract

This was an investigation into how street vending can be planned for, practiced and managed in Central Division of Kampala City. It was inspired by the continuous conflicts arising from actors on street spaces. There is no substantive solution to the current impasse between street vendors, KCCA and other actors on street spaces. Kampala City has not had a comprehensive research based on empirical evidence to inform planning, management strategies, policies and legislative frameworks to guide street vending. This study seeks to fill that gap. The study was conducted on selected streets from Central Division of Kampala City, based on land use zones and the intensity of street vending. Respondents to the study were street vendors, technocrats from government agencies and street space users such as pedestrians, merchants, cyclists and motorists. The study used qualitative methods of study such as observations and direct interviews. In addition, quantitative methods of data collection were used such as questionnaires and interview guides. The concept of saturation was used to obtain an appropriate sample size, which enabled respondents to be selected through a cross- sectional survey research design. The objectives were to investigate the spatial and temporal characteristics of street vending, how street vendors perceive street spaces and their location, the actors that influence street vending, in order to contribute proposals to inform a feasible planning, design, policy and management framework for street vending. Data were generated using observations, interviews, photography, measurements and mapping. In addition, secondary literature were used. Similarly, theoretical frames for qualitative data analysis were mainly used. They included demand and supply side theories of street enterprises, the modernization theory, the neo-liberal theory, the structuralist theory and the post modernization theory of street enterprises. Other decision making models such as SWOT analysis and the morphological box and scamper checklist were used. Key findings indicate that street enterprises took place on all roads in Kampala City during day and night, vendors valorized streets depending on the human traffic, street vending activities are affected by actors with competing interests and that street vending is driven by the context. The study contributed two new theories to existing literature on street vending; “the spontaneous location theory” and the “Moralist theory”. The significance of the spontaneous location theory is that it helps to explain the post-modern theory of street vending, the culture of roadside trading and the structural failures of formal markets to address convenience in shopping. Similarly, the moralist theory helps to explain the moral fabric inherent in human nature to behave according to the norms of the society or context where they operate and thus the persistence of street vending. In addition, “a theory of ethical being” was proposed as a contribution to ethical paradigms during research – it enables the researcher to remain unbiased and value their subjects, in order that the ultimate aim of the research is to benefit the respondents. The research concludes that it requires concerted efforts from all stakeholders to promote and manage street vending. The study recommends street space re-planning, design, change in policy and people led street management measures to manage street vending in Kampala City.