Mapping Mobile Urban Infrastructure: Street Vending in India

Outside Crawford Market in Mumbai, a vendor balances woven baskets of guavas and chikoos on a wooden stand. This scene captures the essence of the city’s informal economy—an intricate, mobile network of care and utility. A research initiative led by the Design Innovation Exchange at the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad, documents this urban phenomenon across India’s metros.

The project, titled Mapping Mobile Urban Infrastructure: The Street Vending Network, launched in August 2022. It spans Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, and Kolkata, focusing on street vendors as vital contributors to the social and economic fabric of cities. “Street vending is often dismissed as chaotic,” said Lakshmi Raman, an urban planner and co-lead on the project. “In reality, it is a mobile, adaptive infrastructure that meets the needs of millions daily.”

The study tracks vendors' pathways, from procurement hubs like Azadpur Mandi in Delhi to neighbourhood junctions in Koramangala, Bengaluru, using GIS mapping, interviews, and visual ethnography. A key finding highlights the duality of these networks: they provide goods and services while also serving as spaces of care and cultural exchange. “Think of the chai-wallah, whose stall becomes a gathering point,” said Raman. “Or the flower vendor who supplies temples and weddings. Their roles extend far beyond the transactional.”

Street vending's infrastructural contribution has long been overlooked in urban policy. The 2014 Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act recognizes over 10 million vendors in India. However, advocacy groups argue the actual number is likely higher, given the unregistered nature of the work. The Act mandates Town Vending Committees (TVCs) to protect these workers, yet implementation remains inconsistent. Cities like Ahmedabad and Pune have designated vending zones and issued licenses, while others lag.

Ajit Singh, a fruit vendor in Kolkata's Gariahat area, shared his challenges: “We face eviction without notice. The customer thinks we are always here, but they don’t see what happens behind the scenes—police harassment, bribes, shifting locations.” For Singh and many others, vending is a resilient livelihood, adapting to the city’s shifting rhythms of construction, festivals, and traffic.

The NID initiative brings design into this equation, exploring how urban planning can integrate street vending. A February 2023 workshop in Bengaluru, co-hosted by the Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS), tested prototypes: modular carts with foldable canopies, storage-friendly seating, and solar-powered lights. These designs aim to offer dignity and functionality within the constraints of public space.

Yet, the project resists a technical fix. “Our goal isn’t to ‘solve’ street vending,” said Raman. “It’s to make visible its contributions while challenging the dominant frameworks that marginalise it.” She underscores a recurring tension: vending is celebrated as cultural heritage but criminalised in practice. The team’s forthcoming publication, expected in early 2024, will include policy recommendations alongside design solutions.

Critics argue that such initiatives risk romanticising informality. “There’s a fine line between documenting informal economies and fetishising them,” said Ravi Varma, an urban sociologist at Jawaharlal Nehru University. “The focus should remain on structural equity—vendors need access to credit, affordable housing, and healthcare, not just better carts.”

Recognising street vending as infrastructure has significant implications. It reframes these activities as integral to urban life rather than peripheral. This challenges hierarchical distinctions between formal and informal economies, affecting how cities are planned and whose labour is legitimised.

In Mumbai’s Dadar market, as the sun dips below the skyline, vendors pack up their unsold goods, ready to begin again tomorrow. The rhythm is unchanging; the city depends on it. Whether policymakers will recognise this dependency remains an open question. For Raman and her team, their work aims to bridge these gaps, placing street vending within the framework of urban infrastructure.