We often see problems associated with street vendors (pedagang kaki lima) in Indonesian cities. Street vendors conduct their business on sidewalks, in city parks, on pedestrian bridges and on streets. They are often regarded as an undesirable eyesore.

In many cases, authorities have forcibly evicted street vendors in the name of "urban order" and "cleanliness". But street vendors often resist such evictions and demand space for their businesses.

Do street vendors deserve urban space for their businesses?

To answer this question, I would like to introduce the concept of urban informality as a framework for understanding street vendors found in urban areas.

The concept of urban informality emerged from a dichotomy between the formal and informal sectors discussed in the early 1970s. The informal sector is a common phenomenon in developing countries. According to studies, the informal sectors in Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and North Africa, and South Asia account for between 30 and 70 percent of the total workforces in those countries.

In Indonesia, according to data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) in February 2008, 73.53 million of some 102.05 million (72 percent) workers were employed in the informal sector.

While discussions have circled this field for more than 30 years, there has been no consensus on a precise definition of the informal sector. An understanding of the informal sector is more often associated with the dichotomy between the formal and informal sectors.

However, the dichotomy of the formal and informal sectors often ignores the importance of the informal sector with respect to urban space. The informal sector is often marginalized in urban areas, even though the informal sector accounts for up to 70 percent of urban employment.

Ananya Roy and Nezar Alsayyad (2004) introduced the concept of informal urban areas as a logical explanation for the process of urban transformation. They did not emphasize the dichotomy between the formal and informal sectors, but focussed on an understanding that the informal sector comprised an important part of the economic structure. Urban informality is an mode of urbanization that connects various economic activities and space in urban areas. This is not only a domain for the poor, but also important for the middle-class population.

Two urban theories, the Chicago School of Urban Sociology and the Los Angeles School of Urban Geography have dominated the discourse on urban development in developing countries, including in Indonesia. Both urban theories are based on a phenomenon that occurred in urbanized cities in the United States. The Chicago school explains the development of urban migration that is controlled by generating ecological patterns, such as invasion, survival, assimilation, adaptation and cooperation.

The Los Angeles school was initiated in the late 1990s to explain the development of metropolitan Los Angeles in the postmodern era and emphasizes the importance of the capitalist economic and political globalization of the economy.

The dominance of both urban theories in the discourse on urban development influences urban spatial planning in developing countries. Planning practices that replicate both urban theories through the dichotomy of developed and developing countries become ubiquitous. It becomes problematic when such replication is no longer relevant to unique urban phenomena in developing countries, such as in the informal sector.

The problems that can arise in connection with street vendors are mostly caused by a lack of urban space for them to conduct business.

Urban spatial planning that is not based on an understanding of the concept of urban informality will tend to ignore the demand for spaces to accommodate the informal sector, including for street vendors.

Moreover, the dominance of the Chicago and Los Angeles schools in the practice of urban planning in Indonesia has contributed to a lack of space for the informal sector in urban areas. The spaces in urban areas are dominated by urban sectors that have high economic value, and spaces for the informal sectors are marginalized.

The application of the concept of urban informality in understanding the street vendor phenomenon could change our perspective on street vendors in urban areas. The street vendors are not groups who have failed to enter the economic system in urban areas. They are one of the modes in the urban transformation that cannot be separated from urban economies. They are one component of the urban economy that will benefit urban development.

The phenomenon of street vendors in Indonesian cities should be interpreted in the context of urban transformation. The application of the urban informality concept in the practice of urban planning will allocate more urban spaces to street vendors and integrate them with the formal sectors.

The practice of urban planning in Indonesia does not need to replicate the Chicago or Los Angeles schools, but modify them and take into account unique urban phenomena including the informal sector here. The informal sectors, including street vendors, deserve more urban space to accommodate their businesses that form an important part of urban economic systems.

The new spatial planning law (26/2007) has stipulated the importance of the informal sector in urban areas, but the implementation of this new law has yet to be enforced fully. The full enforcement of this new spatial planning law and an understanding of the concept of urban informality are needed to ensure an availability of urban space for street vendors.

The writer is an assistant professor and coordinator of urban studies and planning at Savannah State University. He can be reached at rukmanad@savstate.edu

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