Street vendors at the border: From political spectacle to bureaucratic iron cage

Abstract:
This chapter examines street vending in two border cities, El Paso, USA, and Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. Focus is on the relations between the vendors and the municipal government. Street vendors’ associations are discussed in this context, however, their organizational structures or strategies are not examined in depth. In both cities the organisations mediate between the regulations and the vendors. In El Paso, the association has been institutionalised into negotiations over trading rights. Nonetheless, street vending is very tightly regulated and access to vending space is restricted to few vendors. The paper discusses the relationship between urban planning and street vending, asking what space there is for street vending in a planned city.