Comercio informal callejero. Gustavo Adolfo García Cediel

      Presentation

      Far from thinking about economic growth and the dynamics of societies based on the contribution of large companies and industries, as marked at some point in history by the development of the industrial revolution contributing to the geographical changes in cities, it is important to study the development and context of the informal or underground economy as defined by other authors at present, given that due to the economic fluctuations that have occurred over decades, cities have undergone great changes in their social and economic context, characterized for the development of new forms of work that allow families to survive the situation they face, having specific sociodemographic characteristics that are denoted in different academic studies in Latin American cities.

      Situations or expressions have generated state policies that have tried to diminish the presence of informal commerce in the streets of the cities, where other problems such as the invasion of the public space, the visual and auditory contamination are prolonged, the increasing the common delinquency, particularly in the central areas of the cities, where the majority of informal commerce is concentrated in the main cities of Colombia and the region. These policies are aimed at territorial development, the durability of public space, without this meaning violating citizens’ right to work, but rather contributing to the improvement of common well-being. This is how reorganization policies of informal street commerce are born, which transform the geographical space and the economic and social dynamics of the city.

      In this sense, this book is written as a result of a public-private alliance that unites actors from the academy and the government of the municipality of Bucaramanga. The objective is to analyze the changes that the informal economy has reflected in the street trade that has developed in the municipality for several years now. This represents a socioeconomic and spatial problem in the different government plans, which is why policies and efforts have been established to improve the quality of life for street vendors and recover public space, among other issues.

      The text allows us to review some concepts about street commerce, ways of measuring, experiences of recovery of public space and to know informal commerce in the national and international context. In this way, the economic and social dynamics that this phenomenon has brought to cities are explored. The transversal pillar of this study is the evolution of the theories and the conception of informality, and the result of these in the transformation of cities.

      The most unique and precise contribution offered is the emphasis on a cross-sectional study carried out in 2018, compared to other studies carried out in the municipality on the sociodemographic characteristics of street merchants, places of concentration, state policies for the benefit of the city and the projection of public policy that should be developed regarding the issue of informal commerce in the city.

      Maryi Yurany Olarte Dueñas

      Researcher

      Faculty of Economics and Master of Administration

      Santo Tomás University, Seccional Bucaramanga