Learning from (In)Constant Infrastructures

As part of a larger research endeavour, this article operates in the context of current conditions and potentialities of street vending in India, as a city-making constant. It begins by examining frequent, yet, questionable tropes utilised to justify their exclusion from urban planning and design narratives as a main issue to debate: tropes that are then debunked and disproven, after methodically mapping and unpacking the design and infrastructural features of selected case studies. Street vending is therefore explored as a distinct type of infrastructural system in itself, one which is simultaneously a constant factor, and an inconstant array of procedures and processes. It possesses distinct temporal and spatial features seemingly incompatible with conventional planning and design understandings. This article is therefore intended to attempt not only to legitimize the spatial-systemic practices of these infrastructures as a developmental asset, but to outline clues for designers to reimagine urban futures that can lead to more equitable city-making practices.