In Asian cities, where streets act as conduits of public life and economic activity, sidewalks or footpaths are often contested/entangled as pathways and territorialized by pedestrians and street vendors. To address more walkable footpaths, street vending as an activity through policy is not considered holistic to walking but as a deterrent for mobility. This is further consolidated through diverse and different set of policy structures and governance models for both walking, street vending and looking at footpaths as infrastructure, even though the activity of walking – street vending and their use of the footpath is a cohesive one.

The research seeks to address the aspects of walking and street vending and its use of the footpath in four diverse urban contexts of Kolkata and Bangkok. Through a combination of case studies, grounded theory, and cross-disciplinary research, the project will analyse the governance and policy mechanisms for walking and street vending in both the cities. The research intends to explore if the activities of walking and street vending may be harmonised to increase street liveability by policy and governance. Also, the research would contemplate upon the role of planning policy to address walking and street vending as aspects of socio-political and cultural systems of these cities.

Frameworks would be drawn based on the multiple case studies carried out in the respective cities of Kolkata and Bangkok. The insights from the case studies would inform policy reports for these two cities. It would also generate a toolkit to assess synergies between walking and street vending. It will lead to recommendations for reforms to existing planning policy and frameworks. The insights gained from this study will contribute to broader urban planning practices in Asian cities, providing a model for integrating practices of walking and formal-informal street vending into planning policy and governance framework.