Marketmeter. A creeping trade

Street trade creates a fluctuating and self-organising informal city space.  According to Richard Sennett, informal spaces at the grass-roots level make up the essence of a city.  “Informal public space requires under-determined urban planning, that is, an architecture which allows flexibility of use and admits physical gaps and indeterminate relationships between buildings.  It is in these liminal spaces that informality can flourish – the cafe built into a parking lot or the market stall outside a loading dock.  In other words, the virtue of informal public space in hinge cities[1] requires us to challenge ideas that emphasizing spatial order and purpose in urban design, ideas realised in practice, produce an over-determined environment.

The process of planning and modernizing Warsaw is moving toward the standardization of public space.  Informal spaces, the users of which are often the least privileged of social groups, are driven out to the periphery of the city.  Public microspaces at the grass-roots level, such as bazaars[3], are being replaced by controlled chains, and the green space is being taken over by car parks or granite walkways.  The Warsaw authorities have consistently followed a policy of sterilization and are liquidating all vegetable stalls in central Warsaw, even those that have operated there for decades and are popular among locals.[4]  Yet street trade has existed in Warsaw for centuries and has fitted perfectly into the landscape of the capital.  In Canaletto’s paintings from the eighteenth century, the Royal Castle, Zygmunt’s column and the stalls co-exist in harmony in painterly symbiosis.  The Arab souks, Parisian marché aux puces and London flea markets come and go within the most elegant spaces without any hindrance or repression. Perhaps the problem of the Warsaw bazaars is above all, the lack of a street-trading tradition and culture.  The Persians, thanks to their ta’arof, have developed a ritual of courteous banter during street-trading.  The French have given the weekend marché the status of a social integrator, elevating such manner of spending their free time. Through their fashionable and vintage flea markets, the English have promoted the idea of sustainability and slow living. Social life in public space revolves around bazaars. In Warsaw, alternative forms of trade are reappearing, such as the Groceries Cooperative based on the self-organisation of their members and common purchases in agricultural fairs, or the Biobazaars that are now opening in the former Norblin Factory in Wola.

Nevertheless, an appropriate formula for the issue of street trade has not been found.   The Warsaw authorities have made many attempts to combat the camping tables and clothes-drying racks used by street traders in the city centre.  The Mayor of Warsaw made an unsuccessful attempt to regulate street trade.  The city ordered one thousand yellow umbrellas with the logo of the Warsaw Mermaid and the ‘Fall in Love with Warsaw’ slogan, which were to be purchased by street traders with a view to unifying the aesthetics of street sellers and their wares.  Unfortunately, the umbrellas turned out to be impractical, flimsy and too expensive to gain popularity among pragmatic tradespeople.  At the same time, in addition to the unlikely aesthetic improvement, the umbrellas did not solve the economic issues, namely the traders’ non-payment of taxes.

Instead of the liquidation of street trade and sterilization of Warsaw, I would suggest regulations and the development of a comprehensive, economic and aesthetic model for street trade. Marketmeter is a system for adapting street trade based on regulations similar to that of parking meters and parking spaces in the city centre.  Street traders would have the right to reserve public space for a period of time, a section of the payment or a parking space, but based on precisely-defined rules.  In specific, given zones of streets, pavements and squares, pull-out tables would be built into the surface at ground level, namely potential trading stalls. Upon payment of a certain amount to Marketmeter, depending on the period of use, the tables would be unblocked and pulled out from the pavement and used for displaying one’s merchandise. When trading is over the tables would be collapsed back into the ground. The general time frame and trading zones would be regulated by the city authorities.  At the same time, traders could adapt to the situation and changing economic climate, being able to decide whether to trade, how long to trade for and which corner of the street is most profitable.

The payment monies thus obtained would be allocated to the budget of the given street and would be earmarked towards the upkeep of the greenery, benches and playgrounds.  Thus, the market capital would create social capital.  The controversial aesthetics of ‘pumice stones and G-strings’ scattered around may change over time, as the aesthetic tables themselves would encourage better presentation of merchandise among streetsellers.  The Mayor of Bogota, Antanas Mockus[6], a philosopher and activist, managed to change the inhabitants’ mental behavioural patterns in public space within just one term, through the use of art, performance and humour.  City initiatives and direct education of pedestrians have changed the face of the city.

Perhaps after some time, street trade in Warsaw may be recognised as a fully legal activity that can greatly contribute to the city, leading to the elevation of street trade itself to the ranks of other forms of trade.