Street Vendors, their Contested Spaces, and the Policy Environment: A View from Caloócan, Metro Manila

In developing states of Southeast Asia, street vendors play a significant but frequently unappreciated role in both the vibrancy of public spaces as well as the informal economy. Yet, they are subject to indiscriminate purges from sidewalks and other contested territories, which they occupy for lack of provision of spaces in which they could otherwise do business. But such occurrences, and the conflicts that may follow, can be addressed by revisiting policies, which seem anti-vendor or which fail to comprehend their presence and needs. This research studied street vendors of one of the active commuter interchanges of Metro Manila, the Monumento Station area in Caloócan City, framing their needs, issues and aspirations against existing laws. Simultaneously examined were typical uses of shifting, often contested stretches of roads, corners, and easements where hawkers, among other users, daily negotiate a claim to the city’s space.