Space Syntax Beyond Cairo Street Markets

Abstract

Street vending is a growing controversial phenomenon in urban environments. It is a survival strategy and an economic opportunity for countless numbers of marginalized vendors. However, the temporal presence of vendors is portrayed as the source of substantial urban issues, which detract from the quality of the urban public space and the public life of individuals. This chapter aims to propose a practical approach to understand the impact of vendors' temporal presence on the quality of urban space and social life. By space syntax theory, this study utilizes pragmatic methods in the fields of social and human sciences; to analyze the socio-spatial and temporal attributes of the vending phenomenon in relation to urban users' movement in a case study street market at Cairo. The findings introduce a syntactic methodology that highlights the profound relationship between users and informal urban markets to be applied in diverse contexts.