Displacement and the New Spaces for Informal Trade in the Latin American City Centre

Rosemary D.F. Bromley and Peter K. Mackie
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Rosemary D.F. Bromley: Department of Geography, School of the Environment and Society, University of Swansea, Singleton Park, Swansea, SA2 8PP, UK, r.d.f.bromley@swansea.ac.uk
Peter K. Mackie: Department of Geography, School of the Environment and Society, University of Swansea, Singleton Park, Swansea, SA2 8PP, UK

Urban Studies, 2009, vol. 46, issue 7, 1485-1506

Abstract: Using evidence from Cusco, Peru, the paper examines the effects of the planned displacement of informal traders from city-centre streets. Although more than 3500 traders were relocated to new off-centre markets, the research identifies the emergence of `unplanned' alternative city-centre locations for informal trade, especially the new courtyard markets. The municipal-led changes, influenced strongly by concerns to enhance tourism, reveal a process which displays many of the hallmarks of gentrification. Lower-class traders were displaced from city-centre streets for the benefit of middle-class tourists and local people. There was also gentrification of the trading activity itself: by manipulating stall allocation and pricing structures to exclude the poorest traders from the new higher-quality municipal markets. The changing pattern of informal trading can be viewed as an unconventional `barometer' of the progress of policy-led gentrification, applicable to other cities in the developing world.

Date: 2009
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:46:y:2009:i:7:p:1485-1506

DOI: 10.1177/0042098009104577

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