Hanoi’s Youth Itinerant Vendors: An Investigation of Vending Practices, Strategies, and Experiences in a Socialist State

Since the implementation of Đổi Mới reforms in 1986 Hanoi, the political capital of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, has undergone drastic social, urban, and economic transformations.Determined to become a ‘global’ and ‘modern’ city, Hanoi’s municipal government has sinceimplemented a number of policies that aim to restrict informal activities within the city’s publicspaces. One such policy is a 2008 decree restricting street vending that has resulted in acuteimpacts on the city’s migrant street vendors. While previous research exists on Hanoi’s streetvendors, none focuses on youth, the fastest growing demographic cohort in the city. As such,this research aims to investigate the decision making processes of young migrant street vendors(16-30) regarding why and how they undertake vending livelihoods in Hanoi, how they navigatethe regulations of the street vending ban, and how they cope with the treatment they receivefrom local residents.