NESTOR BASEMERA, PhD: “Displace, Dump, and Cage?” The contested logics of formalizing street trading in urban areas in Uganda
Street trading is a primary source of livelihood for many urban poor in cities of the Global South. As a prevalent form of urban informality, street trading has garnered significant scholarly and policy attention over the years. One common policy response by urban authorities is spatial formalization or trade order, where street traders are relocated to designated vending markets.
Many African countries support spatial formalization through national-level urban and spatial policies that focus on urban renewal, slum upgrading, and promoting the urban informal economy. However, instead of truly supporting street traders, designated trading spaces often operate under a control-oriented logic, similar to the spatial dynamics of a camp. These spaces are designed not to empower traders, but to confine, regulate, and ultimately limit informal economic activities.
Uganda’s recent urban spatial formalization mirrors the logic of a camp, rooted in the mantra of Displace, Dump, and Cage (DIDUCA). This is evident in how street traders are forcibly moved from central trading spaces in cities like Fort Portal, Mbarara, Kampala, Mukono, and Mbale, to poorly planned stalls or peripheral sites with inadequate infrastructure. The vendors are subjected to strict surveillance and regulation that restrict their spatial and economic autonomy.
In essence, the spatial strategies of urban officials clash with the daily realities of street traders. City officials justify spatial formalization as a means to ‘domesticate’, ‘tame’, and ‘contain’ street traders in order to promote urban order. However, traders are concerned about the impact on the organic aspects of their businesses, such as spatial mobility, operational flexibility, and proximity to prime economic locations. Various studies, including those by Bandauko & Arku (2025), Oosterom & Gukurume (2022), Rafieian & Kianfar (2023), and Dovey & Recio (2024), suggest that “spatial formalization is at risk of failure in terms of vendors’ acceptance, adaptation, and rejection”. Besides, similar dynamics have been observed in other cities in the Global South, such as Harare, Kumasi, Nairobi, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Bogotá.
These cases highlight the structural challenges of spatial formalization and emphasize the need for top-down formalization programs to be designed with a deeper understanding of vendors’ spatial practices, economic logic, and survival strategies.
Against this backdrop, effective formalization should not only involve designating fixed vending spaces but should also consider the broader spatial and economic dynamics that drive street vending. It should be informed by a nuanced understanding of how street traders operate. Therefore, before establishing designated vending areas, it is crucial to assess whether formalization policies adequately consider both the spatial and non-spatial aspects of street vending. Street traders require not only physical spaces to operate but also relational spaces – dynamic environments that allow them to build and maintain connections with consumers. By integrating these considerations into policy frameworks, the government can move towards a more effective and inclusive approach to spatial formalization.
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