ABSTRACT

Street work in varied manifestations has become a global phenomenon (Bhowmik 2010; Cross and Morales 2007; McFarlane and Waibel 2016). Once believed to be a feature of cities in developing nations, street work has become a common element in many post-industrial urban societies, generating growing anxieties about the possible reversal of a well-established urban modernity. In cities of the Global South, these types of work were earlier seen as a transitory phenomenon and as the expression of an incomplete modernization. Contrary to expectations, however, such activities have only expanded and have in many cities become a widespread form of work (Lindell 2010a; Staples 2007). For example in some African countries informal employment is estimated at 70–80 per cent of urban employment, with trade constituting the largest sector (Vanek et al. 2014). This can be seen as part of a more general deepening of informality of urban living that, propelled by varied and contradicting forces, has become a dominant mode of urbanization (Roy 2005).