Informal Traders and Planners in the Regeneration of Historic City Centres: The Case of Quito, Ecuador

By Alan Middleton on January 01, 2003

A major reason for the regeneration of historic city centres in
developing countries is the possibility of benefiting from the growing
mobility of international tourists. In this competitive global market
place, a particular perspective on history and culture is being sold. It
is a perspective that celebrates buildings and ignores a history of
conflictive social relations. A modern expression of these social
relations is the conflict which exists between planners and street
traders, whose presence is seen to be inimical to tourism development.
This paper investigates the relations between planners and street
traders in Quito, in the context of the history of the city as a
contested space and where the physical and socio-economic structures are
related to cultural conflicts which are deeply embedded. The paper
argues that these conflicts can only be resolved, and international
tourism can only be successfully developed, if planners recognise the
role of the history of their ideas in the process. After providing a
brief discussion of the historical context for modern planning in Quito,
it explores the recent proposals for the revitalisation of the historic
centre of Quito by examining the physical structure of the city centre
and the place of informal traders within it; the social, economic and
organisational structure of informal trade; and the cultural relations
which act as a barrier to the resolution of differences over the future
of tourism and street trading. Finally, some proposals for the
modernisation of planner–trader relations are discussed.

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