Abstract The invisibility of street vendors in conventional planning documents of the City of Oakland inspired my research on recognizing street vendors in the planning processes. Even though street vending has been an integral part of public life in Oakland Chinatown, this activity is considered outside of the city's official planning frameworks.1 Cities worldwide have gone to great lengths to , and 'formalize' street vending activities. Therefore, street vendors rely on the permit system to exercise their right to the city .
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To break away from the streamlining permit process, I map the street vendors of Oakland Chinatown. In the process, I identify street vendors' transient use of space. The evolving nature of street vending presents challenges to the regulation system ther. Further, I critique the City of Oakland's existing food vending permit process with an anti-formalizing lens. I use the lessons from mapping and the critique of the permit system to inform recommendations to the City of Oakland.
Hart, Keith. “THE INFORMAL ECONOMY.” Cambridge Anthropology, vol. 10, no. 2, Department of Social Anthropology, Cambridge University, 1985, pp. 54–58. 2 Kim, Annette Miae. Sidewalk City : Remapping Public Space in Ho Chi Minh City. The University of Chicago Press, 2015. 1
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