Trading vendor capacity versus market availability: Can a city afford to ignore fairness?
After a strategic assessment of the trading environment in Windhoek, I have observed a troubling reality: many of the open markets we know today were not initially created by the City of Windhoek, but were instead identified and developed by vendors themselves before the city later stepped in. This raises an important question about planning, fairness, and responsibility.
Sem Billy David
After a strategic assessment of the trading environment in Windhoek, I have observed a troubling reality: many of the open markets we know today were not initially created by the City of Windhoek, but were instead identified and developed by vendors themselves before the city later stepped in. This raises an important question about planning, fairness, and responsibility.
If street trading is a recognized part of the urban economy, why are there still so few properly built, properly serviced, and legally compliant markets for the people who depend on this trade to survive? The number of available trading spaces remains far below the capacity of traders who need them. This leaves many vendors with no choice but to trade in unsafe, undocumented, or contested spaces, while the city continues to point people to places that are neither equipped nor designed to support dignified trading.
