Informality and the state's ambivalence in the regulation of street vending in transforming Guangzhou, China. (June 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Xue, Desheng; Huang, Gengzhi
• Is Part Of: Geoforum. Volume 62(2015)
• Page Start: 156
• Page End: 165
• Publication Date: 2015-06
• Subjects: Street vending -- Informality -- State -- Ambivalence -- Neoliberalization -- China; Geography -- Periodicals; Human geography -- Periodicals; Regional planning -- Periodicals; Sciences de la terre -- Périodiques; Géographie -- Périodiques; Géographie humaine -- Périodiques; Aménagement du territoire -- Périodiques; Earth sciences; Geography; Human geography; Regional planning; Periodicals; Electronic journals; 304.205
• DOI: 10.1016/j.geoforum.2015.04.012
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0016-7185

Abstract

Highlights: Historical and geographical ambivalence conceptualizes regulation of street vending. The state regulates street vending in ways that benefit its political purposes. Exclusion of street vending is driven by the goal of creating a good city image. Ambivalent regulation related to particular transformation processes of China. To what extent informal practice is tolerable depends on what the state desires. Abstract: Street vending faces uncertain state responses in contemporary Chinese cities, though it plays an important role in sustaining the livelihood of urban migrants. Building on the critical perspective that understands informality as a production of the state, this paper explores the nature of the regulation of street vending in Guangzhou since 1949. The state's regulatory practices are characterized by what we call historical ambivalence and geographical ambivalence, which refer to the inconsistency in policies, which fluctuate between soft and hard approaches over time, and the mix of contradictory regulatory measures applied in different urban spaces, respectively. Ambivalence is generated because the state addresses street vending in ways that attain the overarching objective of urban policies. In particular, the exclusion of street vendors in present-day China is not historically natural but driven and sustained by the government's pursuit of a good city image favorable for attracting capital in the context of intensifying inter-urban competition. The definition of informality is not a neutral classification. Rather, declaring when and to what extent an informal practice is tolerable depends on what the state desires in a specific historical circumstance.