Latest Street Food Vending Organization Attempts in Cairo: An Evaluation of the “Street 306” Model

Abstract

Street vending plays an important role in the urban retail economy and often contributes to the liveliness of the urban environment. Unfortunately, such activity is usually informal and thus it often affects the quality of urban public spaces. In Egypt, most governmental solutions to organize street vending have relied on eviction and/or relocation to formal markets. Recently, several-Street 306‖ projects have been initiated as a novel attempt to organize and legalize street food vending in Cairo. Through a case study approach, this study evaluates one of these new projects, namely Street 306 Dokki. More specifically the study investigates opinions of both customers and vendors and assesses the project in terms of quality attributes of successful urban public spaces extracted from the urban design literature. The qualitative case study relies on multiple methods of data collection including field physical documentation, behavioral observation sessions, and semi-structured interviews. Findings suggest that Street 306 Dokki creates what could be considered a successful urban public space. Accordingly, the Street 306 model could be an interesting approach to address the issue of under-used and poorly maintained urban residual spaces. The model of Street 306 projects also appears to provide good opportunities for young middle-class entrepreneurs to start a small food vending business. However, the Street 306 model does not really appear to address the problems faced and caused by typical traditional street food vendors in Cairo.