Street vending livelihoods: Exploring the potential of property rights regimes in public space: A case study

Wang, Mengyuan 2025. Street vending livelihoods: Exploring the potential of property rights regimes in public space: A case study. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University. Item availability restricted.

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Abstract

Street vending constitutes an important urban livelihood that relies on public space not only as a workplace but as an indispensable resource for its sustenance. The character of these livelihoods and their use of public spaces are governed by the underlying property rights regimes. However, the property rights regimes of public spaces–and their implications on vendors’ livelihoods and use outcomes have received scant scholarly attention within the existing literature. Thus, this research conducts a comparative case study in Xi’an, examining two vending markets in public spaces under China’s dual-track property rights system: Ganjia, an urban village under collective ownership, and Liyuan, an urban district governed by state ownership. Through a structured comparison of two contrasting cases, it investigates differences in vendors’ livelihood outcomes, typologies of their use of public spaces, and property rights regimes of public spaces. The findings demonstrate that urban villages governed by collective property rights regimes offer more inclusive environments for street vending. Vending markets in Ganjia are characterised by higher vendor density, longer operating hours, greater income levels, and a wider diversity of vendor types when contrasted with the urban district of Liyuan. Moreover, vendors operating under collective regimes participate in a greater diversity in the utilisation of public space. Overall, vendors in Ganjia urban villages possessed comparatively more secure property rights over their vending spaces than those in the Liyuan urban district. However, this relative security comes at a high economic cost, including substantial rental payments and operational expenses. Furthermore, the informal rental system in urban villages exposes vendors to risks such as sudden rent increases and limited tenure protection.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Date Type:	Completion
Status:	Unpublished
Schools:	Schools > Geography and Planning (GEOPL)
Subjects:	G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > G Geography (General)
Uncontrolled Keywords:	street vending, public space, property rights, socialist market economy, urban villages
Funders:	Chinese Scholarship Council
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	17 February 2026
Last Modified:	18 Feb 2026 09:52
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/184903

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