Proactive insights into place management: spatiotemporal effects of street food activities in public spaces
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the utilisation of street food to redefine place management in public spaces in Egypt. The study examines the spatiotemporal effects of this approach, considering the preferences of both vendors and consumers alongside contextual design factors.
Design/methodology/approach
In this study, conducted in Cairo, Egypt, a spatial ethnographic approach was used to delve into the process of place management in areas hosting street food activities. Focus group interviews were conducted with a random sample of street food vendors and consumers.
Findings
The results of this case study confirm the significant impact of street food on its surroundings, emphasising the importance of the people–place relationship. Insights from group interviews shed light on essential questions regarding the timing, location and drivers of spatiotemporal effects around food activity areas, as well as the entities controlling these effects and their mechanisms. The findings underscore the necessity of harmoniously balancing the needs of vendors and consumers without detrimentally affecting the context.
Practical implications
The proactive insights gleaned from this study hold potential for replication in other cities, offering valuable insights into the roles and specialisations of actors involved in managing street food places. However, achieving a more comprehensive understanding of stereotypes and underlying themes is imperative.
Originality/value
This study contributes to filling a research gap by exploring strategies to integrate vendors’ and consumers’ preferences and designs into specific contexts. It provides proactive and preventive solutions to mitigate adverse spatiotemporal effects of street food activities within the studied context.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the editor and anonymous reviewers for their constructive feedback on previous versions of this manuscript. They also thank the participants for taking part in this study.
The current work applies compliance with ethical standards in the following:
Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Research involving human participants and or animals: There is no involving animals. Regarding human participants, the researchers here conducted group interviews with 18 anonymous participants on the selected sites, All participants confirmed their willingness to participate in our interviews.
Informed consent: There is no information/issue to be collected.
Citation
Elshater, A. and Abusaada, H. (2024), "Proactive insights into place management: spatiotemporal effects of street food activities in public spaces", Journal of Place Management and Development, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/JPMD-10-2023-0103
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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