| dc.description.abstract | Street vending is the sub-sector of informal businesses that operate in urban spaces meant for other uses. It was
believed that street vending would be absorbed by modern sector with time but instead it has grown to
providing alternative jobs to a large urban population who cannot get formal employment. People migrating to
urban centres, school leavers and retrenched workers find work in street vending. Vendors provide goods and
services cheaply and conveniently to the urban population. Its ability to expand and offer employment was
recognized in 1970 when developing countries were experiencing low rate of economic growth and increased
unemployment. Integration of street vending activities in urban land use is affected by negative perception of
local authorities. However, there is still little research on how street vending can be integrated in urban plans.
Against this back drop, this study assessed dynamics of street vending in phenomenon in Kisumu Municipality.
The objectives of the study were to: examine the nature and patterns of street vending activities. Study
population constituted street vendors in the central business district, customers buying from street vendors and
Kisumu Municipality administrators. Purposive sampling was used to sample Kisumu Municipality
administrators. A multistage sampling technique was used to select the owner of the street vending enterprise to
respond to questionnaires. Customers who participated in the study were introduced by street vendors who
responded to questionnaire. Content analysis was used to analysis qualitative data from focus group discussion
and interviews through creating themes, categories and patterns. Quantitative data was analyzed using
percentages, multinomial logistic regression and Pearson Chi square (χ2
). Street vendors were found to sell
food, personal items, household items, household suppliers, hardware items and services at comparatively
cheaper price and conveniently to the customers. Street vendors were found to operate from Monday to Sunday
while Saturday and Sunday records the highest number of street vendors. The peak periods for street vendingwere between 10.00 a.m. and 1.00 p.m. and 4.00 p.m. and 8.00 p.m. The vendors were found to station
themselves on pavements, near a bank and business premises, hospital, parks and any open space with high
pedestrian traffic when selling. Vendors were found to sell different products at different locations. The
locations that street vendors took up were influenced by attractiveness, accessibility, number of customers,
competitors, allocation by municipality and original site where vendor started. The study concludes that street
vendors identify the locations where they vend on their own without any guideline. The sites taken at random by
vendors make the pattern of street vending look haphazard within the urban built environment. This make Local
Authorities view street vending as disorganized activity giving bad image to the town. The main study
recommendation is that there is need to guide planning of street vending to integrate them in urban land use. | en_US |
