Dissertation Proposal: Street Food Vending

Dissertation Proposal: Street Food Vending Student’s Name Course Professor’s Name Institution Date Introduction and objectives Walk in any major city in the world and discover a wide range of cultural and social interactions that unite and harmonize the people of that city. Many activities happen in a city that to make social, economic and political goals that have been preset to be achieved. For this to happen, the human environment must be conducive and able to sustain every person in that city no matter their social or economic class (Koch, 2015). For a human environment to be conducive and sustainable, various factors and requirements that differ for the many socially unique of people, must be unconditionally met. The endless list of the needs that the city peoples need and want can be narrowed down to four basic needs that universally should be provided for in order to sustain life. Food, Shelter, security, and clothing are the basic needs that every person needs in order to survive (Graaff, & Ha, 2015). Big buildings and skyscrapers provide the much-needed shelter to the people in the city. Security is provided for by the law enforcement agencies like the police and private security guards. Clothing is a personal choice depending on the social and cultural dressing code that is dictated by the various occupations that an individual is working. Food being a fundamental requirement not only for working energy but also for life sustainability is available in many forms (Choi, Lee, & Ok, 2013). Big hotels and restaurants, motels, cafes, shops, stores and street food vendors are all food distributions points in cities. The street food vending involves trucks and a standalone kiosk that mostly deals with fast food and drinks like chips, hotdog, hamburger, chicken, coffee and soft drinks. In London the street food vending was not allowed except for a small window market held on Sunday in a section of Middlesex street. However, in 2013 the city of London (various powers) amended and allowed licensed street trading that according to the Act should be renewed every year (Koch, 2015). These kiosk and standalone facilities serve many people working and residing in the cities which do not have either time or money or both to afford big hotels. These streets food vendors and kiosks are only supposed to be operational from 9 am up to 2 pm so that to cause no commotion and congestion in the rush hours. Since then, the business provides a living to thousands of people who rely on the business for the sustainability of their lives and their families. The availability of fast food in these street vending makes them convenient for most of the people in the working class especially in the major cities in the world like New York, London, Dubai, and others (Khairuzzaman, Chowdhury, Zaman, Al Mamun & Bari, 2014). Koch (2015) states that despite having many advantages due to their convenience and availability, street food vending and trading is always on the hunt list of government and other social welfare agencies. Despite the efforts of licensing the traders, there is limited control of the street food vending by the government and quality assurance makes them prone to many interferences by the governments (Marras, 2014). The street food vending has greatly been discouraged by many health and quality assurance because in the aim of protecting the people from various harm that street food vending business may pose to the customers and the city at large. However, the business has continued to blossom and to increase the net profits and value that is added to the government in form as the tax (Kok, & Balkaran, 2014). The business of vending food in the streets is seen by some people as hinderance that blurs the formal time and space in the major cities by making them look more casual and informal. For these reasons and many others that are against the street food vending, there has in the recent past been a crackdown on the operational street food vending points in almost every major city in the world. Strict rules and regulations that are aimed at reducing the number of the vending street food vending. The rules and regulations put limitations on the street food vending by raising the bar of the requirements the business needs to be established and be functional. These enacted rules and regulations by the governments have different effects on the various types of vendors. Those who operate at night, for instance, are affected differently as compared to those who operate during the day. The strict regulations by the government and other agencies have worked and controlled most of the street food vending and ensured that the vendors provide quality assured services and products that are void of any harmful substances that may affect the consumers of the food. The few that have been licensed to operate the street food vending are highly controlled by various regulatory agencies together with the government. However, the move to instill many rules and regulations have opened a door to many illegal street foods vending in the streets that operate under no control or supervision from the government and thus putting the consumer that the governments highly protect too much worse danger (Rahman, Arif, Bakar, & Talib, 2016). These illegal street food vending usually operates at night when the law enforcement is not much available. This Dissertation will be looking and recording the outcome of a research to determine the rules and regulations that control the street food vending and the effects to the vendors that these rules pose. Context and previous work Street food vending is an issue that is affecting and being affected by all the three aspects of life; social, economic and political. However, street food vending is more oriented to the social aspect of life because food in many societies is considered as a social activity that should bring people together (Samapundo, Climat, Xhaferi, & Devlieghere, 2015). The context of the paper will thus slightly bias the social context of the street food vending. The issue of street food vending and its effect has been generated a heated and fierce debate between those supporting the curbing by the government and those that are against it (Njaya, 2014). There is also a considerable high number of publications on the same. However, the social effects that these laws and regulation pose to the vendors have not been adequately dealt with in a more detailed manner. However, some outstanding work has been done by several people that shed light on the vendor's issues. Regan Koch (2015) publication “Licensing, Popular Practices and Public Spaces” which was an inquiry through the geographies of street food vending, is one of the best material that sheds light to the various concerns that the street business involves. He focuses on the socio-legal technology tool that is mostly used by the government to license and manage spaces and practices. The effects of licensing on the routine practices and services of the society are also looked into in depth by Koch. Another very informative and relevant work that is highly related to the issues is a chapter that was prepared and written by Ginny Browne, Kate Mayerson and Will Dominic which is titled “Keep Your Wheels On”: Mediating Informality in the Food Cart Industry. It is the 13th chapter in their book “The informal American City”. This publication takes a deep look at the image of the street food vending business in the eyes of the government and the general public in the United States. They also looked at the role of the government in the street vending business concluding that the local council has both outlawed and encouraged the street vending business. The creation of jobs opportunity for the citizens has been identified as one of the main reason that the government supports and encourages. It is also noted by the writer that most of the many big hotels and restaurant that currently generate a lot of tax started as the street food vending points. Research Methods To clearly understand the street food vendors in East London a research was conducted so that its data and outcomes can be analyzed and reliable conclusion made. The critics of street food vending claim that the practices reduce the formality of the city of London by creating both pedestrian and traffic c...