A regular sight when I lived in Hanoi was police chasing street vendors; if they caught them, they would seize their goods and only return them after the vendor paid a fine. Meanwhile the streets are full of vendors, many of them selling fresh, prepared food that offers an inexpensive and tasty alternative to more established restaurants. A regular sight in Dhaka is of police chasing street vendors; here I mainly see them chasing men selling whole fish. Again, fresh, healthy food available at low cost, and considered by many residents as an important asset.

In order to explain why we at HealthBridge consider street vendors as so essential to cities, I recently wrote the paper “Urban Menace or Valuable Asset? The Social and Economic Role of Street Vendors in Cities”. In the paper, I discuss a number of economic issues about street vendors: the importance of local employment, their contribution to the local economy, and the many benefits they provide to customers, in terms of convenience as well as cost. I also talk about their role in making streets and cities more liveable, mostly by improving walking conditions. I talk a bit about legal issues and unions, and various actions that different cities or countries have taken to help vendors, and end with some recommendations on maximizing the benefits from vendors while addressing the problems to which they can contribute. I hope the paper will be useful to all of us who wish to preserve their presence on the streets—and in convincing others of their importance!