Urban Nomadism and the Negotiation of Belonging: A Study of Migrant Street Vendors in Global Cityscapes

Project Abstract

This study investigates how migrant street vendors navigate urban space, social hierarchies, and cultural belonging within the shifting landscapes of global cities, focusing on the everyday practices, networks, and transnational linkages that sustain their livelihoods and identities. By integrating ethnographic fieldwork, spatial analysis, and social theory, the research traces the renegotiation of belonging as migrants move through formal and informal economies, legal regimes, and public spaces that oscillate between inclusion and exclusion. The work foregrounds how vendors deploy strategies of visibility, performance, and adaptability to claim legitimacy, cultivate social capital, and negotiate regulatory ambivalence, while also attending to the precarities of informality, debt cycles, and exposure to hazards. Through longitudinal participant observation, in-depth interviews with vendors, residents, regulators, and community organizations, and digital ethnography of social networks and messaging platforms, the study maps the spatial practices of vending circuits, the temporal rhythms of market days and migratory arrivals, and the symbolic meanings attached to public commerce. A key aim is to illuminate how belonging is co-constructed at the intersection of transnational ties, local sociocultural mores, and urban governance, producing layered identities that resist simplistic binaries of citizen and non-citizen. The analysis engages theories of neoliberal urbanism, cosmopolitanism, and social capital to interrogate the paradoxical inclusion of migrant workers within global value chains alongside their marginalization in municipal policy, policing, and urban planning. Findings reveal that street vendors forge solidarities across ethnic groups and languages, leveraging diasporic networks to share information, reduce risk, and access microcredit; yet regulatory regimes, policing practices, and symbolic stigmatization continually threaten these networks’ cohesion and mobility. The research also explores gendered dimensions of street vending, highlighting how women navigate safety concerns, family responsibilities, and informal caregiving within the urban fabric, while men often assume roles centered on logistics, negotiation with authorities, and market leadership. Insights extend to urban sociology and anthropology through a nuanced account of time, space, and embodiment, showing how bodily presence in crowded cityscapes becomes a strategic resource for legitimacy. Methodologically, the study innovates with a layered approach that synthesizes qualitative interviews, ethnography, and spatial storytelling with quantitative mapping of vending hotspots and regulatory interventions. Theoretically, it contributes to understanding belonging as performative, relational, and mediated by infrastructure, policy, and transnational livelihoods. Policy implications concern inclusive urban governance that recognizes informal economies as integral to urban resilience, proposes humane regulation that protects vendors’ rights, and fosters cooperative platforms for dialogue among migrants, locals, and authorities. The study ultimately argues that belonging in global cityscapes is a dynamic negotiation shaped by movement, memory, and mutual aid, rather than a fixed status assigned by formal institutions.

Project Overview

What This Project Is About

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A plain-language overview of how migrant street vendors navigate city life, the meanings of belonging they pursue, and how public spaces, laws, and social networks shape their everyday work and identity in global city settings.

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The Problem It Addresses

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Many cities rely on street markets and vendors for vitality, but migrants often face legal challenges, social exclusion, and precarious work. This project investigates how mobility, labor, and belonging intersect in urban spaces and why these dynamics matter for policy and social cohesion.

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Objectives of the Project

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1. Describe where migrant street vendors operate and how they move within the city.
2. Explore how vendors define belonging and maintain cultural ties in a new urban context.
3. Identify barriers created by laws, policing, and urban design that affect vendor livelihoods.
4. Analyze social networks and support systems that help vendors survive and thrive.
5. Offer practical recommendations for more inclusive city policies.

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What You Will Do Step by Step

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1. Review existing literature on urban mobility and street vending.
2. Choose a city or pair of cities for fieldwork and obtain necessary permissions.
3. Conduct interviews and brief surveys with migrant vendors and neighbors.
4. Observe market sites to map space use and interactions.
5. Code and sort interview notes into themes about belonging and legality.
6. Compare findings across different neighborhoods or city policies.
7. Draft chapters linking theory to empirical findings.
8. Present results to peers and revise based on feedback.

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Expected Outcome

An accessible account of how migrant street vendors negotiate belonging, with practical policy ideas to support inclusive urban spaces and fair work conditions.