Yesterday HealthBridge’s partner organization in Dhaka, Work for a Better Bangladesh, and I met with a young architect interested in involving local students in a design project for better management of street vendors in Dhaka. City officials often try to ban vendors, feeling that they are an obstacle to pedestrians and create litter. Certainly, due to lack of overhead, they create unwanted competition with established shops. But the fact that vendors sell goods throughout the city at low price is advantageous to customers and reduces the need for shoppers to travel. Street vending is an important livelihood for countless people. The presence of vendors makes streets safer and gives an incentive to walk for all those who enjoy ‘window’ shopping. With better management, a city could gain the advantages of vendors while reducing the problems. Vendors could be responsible for keeping the area around their stall clean; they could enhance public spaces by giving visitors more to see and do; and they could be placed in such a way as not to block people’s movement. All of which is why we are happy to team up with architecture and planning students to look at creative ways to improve vendor management for more liveable streets.