The Ralph and Goldy Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies

Street vendors are routinely excluded and criminalized for existing in the public realm. A group of individuals who are primarily elderly, undocumented, female, disabled, and immigrants, vendors withstand hardship and discrimination on compounding scales. Many states have anti-vending laws and regulations that limit vendor behavior. But this tide is changing across the US; thanks to decades of advocacy, street vending laws are being updated nationwide to decriminalize vending. More can be done to support street vendors in the public realm. This toolkit is meant to outline design and policy recommendations for urban designers, planners, and park advocates to better support the vendor community in public spaces.