Walk through Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Istanbul, Hanoi, or any other major tourist city; the street vendors are hard to miss. Rather than always being treated as an urban nuisance, street vending has become part of the identity and visitor experience of many destinations.
Bangkok is perhaps one of the best-known examples. Its street food is internationally associated with the city and attracts tourists and local consumers alike. Similar experiences can be found in Vietnam, Turkiye, Malaysia, Indonesia and other tourism economies, where street markets provide visitors with food, local products, and direct interaction with communities and events; in many countries, governments support these small vendors through roadside night markets.
Experiences within South Asia also offer useful lessons. India, for example, enacted the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act in 2014. The legislation seeks to protect street vendors’ livelihoods while regulating vending in public spaces. Among other provisions, it provides for surveys, vending certificates and Town Vending Committees.
Implementation may not be perfect, but the principle behind the law is significant. A person selling vegetables, food, clothing or household items on a street is not simply an encroacher. He or she is also a worker earning a livelihood and contributing to the urban economy.
Street vendors are everywhere in our cities but remain largely invisible in mainstream economic policy. Fruit and vegetable carts, tea stalls, food sellers, cobblers, flower sellers and small vendors selling clothes and household goods operate around commercial markets, hospitals, educational institutions, transport terminals, offices and tourist locations.
Pakistan’s labour market itself provides an important context. According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics’ Labour Force Survey 2020-21, informal employment accounted for more than seven out of every ten jobs in the country’s non-agricultural sector. Street vending represents only one part of this much larger informal economy, so informal employment figures should not be mistaken for the number of street vendors. They nevertheless demonstrate how heavily Pakistan’s employment structure depends on informal livelihoods.
For someone with little capital, street vending can offer one of the simplest routes to self-employment. Opening a formal shop requires rent, security deposits, utilities, inventory and other expenses. A small cart or roadside stall requires much less capital. For a worker unable to secure a salaried job, it can therefore become an economic survival strategy.
One small roadside business may support an entire family. Daily earnings can pay for food, rent, children’s education, electricity and healthcare. In some households, one vendor may be the principal income earner supporting several dependents. Removing a cart from a pavement may take a few minutes, but the economic consequences can enter the kitchen, classroom and healthcare decisions of an entire household.
This does not mean vendors should be free to occupy any public space they choose. Pedestrians have a right to clear footpaths. Traffic must move. Shopkeepers need access to their businesses. Cities require sanitation, waste management and food safety. Emergency routes and sensitive locations cannot be compromised.
The real choice, therefore, is not between unrestricted street vending and removing every vendor. It is between unmanaged informality and regulated economic activity.
At present, many vendors operate with considerable uncertainty. They may have no secure location, formal recognition or clear information about where they can legally conduct business. Eviction or confiscation can destroy the working capital of a small vendor. On the other side, unregulated vending can obstruct pavements, worsen traffic congestion and create waste and sanitation problems.
The question is not whether street vendors should be allowed to take over our cities. They should not. The question is whether our cities can accommodate small livelihoods while protecting the wider public interest
Punjab’s recent initiative to organise affordable bazaars offers an interesting policy lesson. Under the government of Punjab, affordable market initiatives, including Sasta and Sahulat Bazaar arrangements, have provided consumers with access to essential commodities in organised spaces. Their primary purpose is consumer relief and price management, but they also show something broader: government can create and manage dedicated commercial spaces rather than letting small-scale commerce develop entirely without planning.
This does not mean relocating every vendor to a conventional bazaar. A roadside tea seller outside an office, a fruit cart near a transport hub and a souvenir seller near a tourist attraction depend heavily on location. Moving them kilometres away may effectively destroy their businesses.
Instead, local governments could identify small vending zones within existing commercial areas. They could allocate clearly marked spaces to registered vendors while leaving adequate room for pedestrians and traffic. In suitable areas, existing or future affordable bazaar infrastructure could also accommodate eligible small traders. Organised and legal street vendors will definitely increase local revenue.
Registration should be simple and inexpensive. Vendors could receive renewable permits linked to particular vending zones. Food sellers could be required to meet basic hygiene standards. Vendors could be responsible for keeping their allocated areas clean and avoiding obstruction beyond marked boundaries. In return, local governments could provide waste collection, sanitation facilities where practical, and protection from arbitrary displacement for vendors who comply with the rules.
The Punjab Enforcement and Regulatory Authority, or PERA, was established under the Punjab Enforcement and Regulation Act 2024 to strengthen enforcement of specified regulatory laws in the province. Its emergence makes wider discussion about encroachments and informal commercial activity particularly important. Strong enforcement is necessary. Roads, footpaths and public land cannot be occupied without rules. But enforcement becomes more effective when people also have a realistic route to compliance. As a regulatory authority, PERA should also ensure a safe and secure legal street vending business.
If a vendor is repeatedly removed without being provided any lawful alternative, economic necessity may simply push that person onto another pavement or back to the same location once the enforcement operation ends. This creates a cycle of eviction, return and another eviction without addressing the underlying livelihood problem.
Local governments could survey vendors, identify appropriate vending and no-vending zones, issue permits and establish operating conditions. Enforcement authorities could then act against violations of clearly defined rules. Such a system would also help distinguish between a low-income worker using a small designated space to earn a livelihood and larger or organised forms of illegal occupation of public property.
Tourist destinations deserve special consideration. Pakistan wants to attract more domestic and international tourists, but tourism development is not only about hotels, roads and scenic locations. Food, crafts, markets and interaction with local communities are also part of the tourism experience.
Properly organised vending areas around selected tourist destinations could attract tourists and, as buyers, create employment while adding local character. Standardised stalls, visible prices, cleanliness requirements, waste facilities and dedicated vending areas could transform what is often viewed as roadside clutter into an organised local marketplace.
The policy sequence should therefore be straightforward: recognise, register, regulate, support and then enforce. Street vendors must accept responsibilities concerning cleanliness, food safety, pedestrian access, use of public space and other relevant protocols and SOPs. Government must provide a realistic legal pathway through which they can comply.
Punjab’s affordable bazaar initiatives show that organised spaces for small-scale commerce are possible. PERA shows that the province is strengthening its enforcement capacity. The missing link is a framework connecting the two: providing legitimate economic space while enforcing clear rules.
Pakistan’s cities need clean roads, accessible footpaths and orderly public spaces. But they also need jobs and opportunities for people to earn a living. These objectives do not have to compete.
The question is not whether street vendors should be allowed to take over our cities. They should not. The question is whether our cities can accommodate small livelihoods while protecting the wider public interest.
With legal recognition, designated spaces, sensible regulation and responsible enforcement, they can.
The writer is affiliated with the Systems Research Group (SRG) at the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI).
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