Evolution of Informal Trade in Old Hyderabad: Investigating Resistance to Acquired Western Urban Planning Interventions

Abstract

Street vending has been a dominant occupation among migrants since the inception of urban migration in Hyderabad, India. For a long time, street vending has been considered an intrusion into the city’s urban fabric, causing stringent efforts to exclude it. Historic evidence shows the existence of public markets –called bazaars– that run alongside shops. Nevertheless, the urban transformation of Hyderabad was influenced by Western urbanization paradigms and foreign interference under British rule and sustained by volatile policies after independence, jeopardizing historical identities and pushing marginalized populations away from the city. This study examines the impact of volatile policies on urban informality and argues that peripatetic trade in Hyderabad is native to the city. Today, while street vending is considered an appropriation of public space in the Old City, results indicate it is a form of resistance to acquired Western planning models and modernization induced upon the city.