INFORMAL COMMERCE - EXPANSION AND EXCLUSION IN THE HISTORIC CENTER OFTHE LATIN-AMERICAN CITY

Informal commerce, characterized by market and street trading activiti es, thrives in the central areas of many Latin American cities. Focusi ng on the neglected spatial dimension of informal commerce, the paper traces its considerable expansion in the historic centre of Quite in E cuador since the early 1970s and examines the issues which have prompt ed municipal intervention. An early municipal response involves some a ttempts at redistribution of informal commerce, justified by essential ly functional issues such as hygiene and congestion. However, the intr oduction of conservation policy and the way this policy evolved to emb race a broad concern for the urban environment is associated with the emergence of an aesthetic/cultural discourse in altitudes towards info rmal commerce. The authorities are increasingly motivated towards 'sel ling' a new image of the historic centre and encouraging new economies oriented towards the tourist and a relatively wealthy clientele. Move s to exclude informal commerce have concentrated on the most visible s paces, particularly those of the principal squares. Although informal trade hidden from view continues to thrive, only time and further rese arch will show whether the re-presentation of the historic centre and the promotion of new economies will finally effect the exclusion of in formal commerce as a culmination of long-term efforts to control its o ccupation of space.