…architecture of something else

Street Vendors as ‘Out of Place’ Urban Elements
Yandi Andri Yatmo

Published in:
Journal of Urban Design Volume 13 No 3 (2008)

Abstract

The existence of street vendors has become a problematic issue in many countries. Despite various arguments that either support or reject their presence in urban environments, street vendors generally have been accused of disrupting the order of the environment and therefore should be removed. The arguments in this paper reconsider the position of street vendors in Indonesian cities, drawing on Mary Douglas’ theory of ‘out of place’. Such a reassessment of street vendors as the ‘out of place’ urban elements offers a theoretical basis for the practice of urban design and planning in dealing with certain unwanted elements.

Let’s Go Out and Learn
Paramita Atmodiwirjo & Yandi Andri Yatmo

Published in:

Contemporary Issues in Education

David Seth Preston (Ed)
Rodopi, NL, 2005

Rejecting Out of Place Elements in Urban Environments: Understanding Public Preferences
Yandi Andri Yatmo

Published in:

Environmental Psychology: Putting Research into Practice

Eddie Edgerton, Ombretta Romice and Christopher Spencer (Eds)
Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2007

Abstract

This paper addresses the rejection of certain elements in urban environment that are perceived as ‘out of place’ and relates this phenomenon of rejection to public like and dislike of those elements. A case study of street vendors in Jakarta, Indonesia is taken as an example of how such phenomenon occurs, especially in third world cities. An empirical study was conducted to explore the extent to which street vendors were perceived by general public as liked and disliked urban elements. The findings showed that street vendors were perceived both as liked elements and disliked elements. The result of this study suggests that the generalisation of street vendors as ‘out of place’ in everyday urban practice and the act for totally rejecting their presence in the cities is not entirely correct.