Paper short abstract:

Many new roads have recently been built in Lusaka (Zambia). Through studying one fly-over bridge, this paper aims to show how vendors’ everyday lives are changed by these developments, and how they adjust their practices, including relocation and reappropriation of spaces surrounding the bridge.

Paper long abstract:

Many governments on the African continent have engaged in the construction of new road infrastructures. Within urban areas, new road infrastructures may contribute to city governments’ aims to create a ‘world-class city’. Up to date little is known about the effects of new road infrastructures on urban dwellers generally, and on those residing or working in the vicinity of these projects. Through studying street vendors in Lusaka (Zambia), this paper aims to increase our understanding of how urban dwellers working in the vicinity of such project have been affected, and reappropriated new infrastructures in order to sustain their livelihoods. The paper builds on fieldwork conducted during 2022 in Lusaka during which interviews have been conducted with the city government, street vendors and other state institutions involved in the building of roads within the city. In Lusaka, approximately 500 kilometers of roads have been created, upgraded or improved during the last decade. One of the most visible improvements of the roads have included the creation of several fly-over bridges on central access roads to the city’s CBD, as part of the Lusaka Decongestion Project. This paper studies how the in 2020 finalized Makeni fly-over bridge has altered possibilities for street vendors to sustain their livelihoods in the vicinity of the bridge. Preliminary findings suggest that many (mobile) street hawkers have relocated to other locations in the city, while other (stationary) vendors have adjusted their vending practices (i.e. location, working hours, products, etc.) in order to remain within the Makeni area.