Place making decisions among informal street food vendors in Sunyani, Ghana

Street vending is vilified and extolled in equal measure. Recently, however, city authorities have sought to “sanitize” the urban space in their efforts to create the ideal city. This study focuses specifically on understanding place making decisions among food vendors in the Sunyani Municipality as a way of informing urban policy making on the siting of food vending activities, given the potential of exposure of food to contaminants and public health concerns. Mixed methods involving the use of questionnaire and Key Informant Interviews were used to collect quantitative and qualitative data from 208 and 3 respondents, respectively. The results show that food vending in Sunyani is predominantly undertaken by less educated and skilled women in unauthorised public spaces. They are mainly driven by demand for their services; therefore, proximity to customers, proximity to the city centre, cost and availability of space, proximity to a transport terminal and proximity to a major road are the spatial considerations that influence their decisions to locate their activities at specific places. They also operate at specific times of the day. The study recommends that major city infrastructure projects be accompanied with ancillary facilities that support food vending as a spatial attribute of city planning. It is also recommended that the city authorities take control of the practice and promote allocative efficiency based on the diurnal demand for space. These measures will help reduce the haphazard spread of food vendors, enhance the permitting process by authorities, improve monitoring and revenue mobilization and contribute to new flows and improved spatial relations in the city.