Amy Schoenecker | University of Hartford (original) (raw)
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Papers by Amy Schoenecker
Urban Studies, Feb 21, 2023
Routledge eBooks, Apr 27, 2022
Space and Culture, 2018
Encouraged by neoliberal policies promoting entrepreneurialism and free markets, many cities have... more Encouraged by neoliberal policies promoting entrepreneurialism and free markets, many cities have begun to try and formalize informal industries using schemes including new regulations and licenses. However, given the importance of controlling urban space, many of these policies often continue to marginalize vulnerable workers who operate in public space. Comparing the outcomes of formalization for three industries in Chicago between 2012 and 2015—pedicabs (bicycle operated cabs), food trucks, and street vendors, this article finds that an effect of formalization has been policies of exclusion in the form of spatial and temporal bans, severely limiting where and when informal workers are allowed to operate. The findings suggest that a simplistic emphasis on formalization, without an accompanying discussion on uneven geographies or considerations on the intersection of uses and the users of space, is misplaced.
Spaces and Flows: An International Journal of Urban and ExtraUrban Studies
In cities across the globe, street vendors and local officials are engaged in distinct forms of a... more In cities across the globe, street vendors and local officials are engaged in distinct forms of antagonism, tolerance, and collusion, with vendors sometimes protected by local officials and sometimes removed from public space. While these contentious relationships between city authorities and street vendors leave vendors in a vulnerable position, this article argues that vendors are not passive or helpless in the face of urban authorities. In order to demonstrate how street vendors are able to contest city policy and practices, this research draws on theories of urban informality and resistance which are largely predicated on scholarship of the Global South, and applies these theories in a comparative analysis of distinct cities with significant unauthorized vending populations: Chicago and Mumbai. By comparing different cities, the objective is to create a broader understanding of resistance efforts and urban informality that is sensitive to local contexts but not bound by geographical distinctions. To this end, a spectrum of contestation acts are identified, from the physical occupation of space to the formal use of urban institutions like the court system, which can help explain the local and proximate patterns of street vending and removal enforcement. This argument is drawn from research in three neighborhoods in Chicago and three in Mumbai from 2011 to 2015. The analysis presented here shows how different resistance methods can have specific outcomes, ranging from formal policy changes to unofficial acceptance or toleration of vending activities, and how city rules can be negotiated from below.
Encouraged by neoliberal policies promoting entrepreneurialism and free markets, many cities have... more Encouraged by neoliberal policies promoting entrepreneurialism and free markets, many cities have begun to try and formalize informal markets using schemes including new regulations and licenses. However, given the importance of controlling urban space within neoliberal ideology, the policies many cities form to ostensibly support informal economies, often continue to marginalize vulnerable workers who operate in public space. Comparing the outcomes of formalization for three industries in Chicago between 2012 and 2015—pedicabs (bicycle operated cabs), food trucks, and street vendors, this article finds that an effect of formalization has been policies of exclusion in the form of spatial and temporal bans, severely limiting where and when informal workers are allowed to operate. While space and time restrictions on workers are unsurprising in the context of urban neoliberal agendas, the findings suggest that a simplistic emphasis on formalization, without an accompanying discussion on uneven geographies, is misplaced.
Urban Studies, Feb 21, 2023
Routledge eBooks, Apr 27, 2022
Space and Culture, 2018
Encouraged by neoliberal policies promoting entrepreneurialism and free markets, many cities have... more Encouraged by neoliberal policies promoting entrepreneurialism and free markets, many cities have begun to try and formalize informal industries using schemes including new regulations and licenses. However, given the importance of controlling urban space, many of these policies often continue to marginalize vulnerable workers who operate in public space. Comparing the outcomes of formalization for three industries in Chicago between 2012 and 2015—pedicabs (bicycle operated cabs), food trucks, and street vendors, this article finds that an effect of formalization has been policies of exclusion in the form of spatial and temporal bans, severely limiting where and when informal workers are allowed to operate. The findings suggest that a simplistic emphasis on formalization, without an accompanying discussion on uneven geographies or considerations on the intersection of uses and the users of space, is misplaced.
Spaces and Flows: An International Journal of Urban and ExtraUrban Studies
In cities across the globe, street vendors and local officials are engaged in distinct forms of a... more In cities across the globe, street vendors and local officials are engaged in distinct forms of antagonism, tolerance, and collusion, with vendors sometimes protected by local officials and sometimes removed from public space. While these contentious relationships between city authorities and street vendors leave vendors in a vulnerable position, this article argues that vendors are not passive or helpless in the face of urban authorities. In order to demonstrate how street vendors are able to contest city policy and practices, this research draws on theories of urban informality and resistance which are largely predicated on scholarship of the Global South, and applies these theories in a comparative analysis of distinct cities with significant unauthorized vending populations: Chicago and Mumbai. By comparing different cities, the objective is to create a broader understanding of resistance efforts and urban informality that is sensitive to local contexts but not bound by geographical distinctions. To this end, a spectrum of contestation acts are identified, from the physical occupation of space to the formal use of urban institutions like the court system, which can help explain the local and proximate patterns of street vending and removal enforcement. This argument is drawn from research in three neighborhoods in Chicago and three in Mumbai from 2011 to 2015. The analysis presented here shows how different resistance methods can have specific outcomes, ranging from formal policy changes to unofficial acceptance or toleration of vending activities, and how city rules can be negotiated from below.
Encouraged by neoliberal policies promoting entrepreneurialism and free markets, many cities have... more Encouraged by neoliberal policies promoting entrepreneurialism and free markets, many cities have begun to try and formalize informal markets using schemes including new regulations and licenses. However, given the importance of controlling urban space within neoliberal ideology, the policies many cities form to ostensibly support informal economies, often continue to marginalize vulnerable workers who operate in public space. Comparing the outcomes of formalization for three industries in Chicago between 2012 and 2015—pedicabs (bicycle operated cabs), food trucks, and street vendors, this article finds that an effect of formalization has been policies of exclusion in the form of spatial and temporal bans, severely limiting where and when informal workers are allowed to operate. While space and time restrictions on workers are unsurprising in the context of urban neoliberal agendas, the findings suggest that a simplistic emphasis on formalization, without an accompanying discussion on uneven geographies, is misplaced.