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The present paper attempts to measure empirically the externalities generated by the street vendors in four zones of the city. Given the lack of information censuses and surveys were carried out during December of 2004 and January 2005. The descriptive statistics show that the established commerce is less formal than expected; whereas the street vendors are mostly stationary, exhibit reduced scale and low space rivalry. The econometric estimations show that the congestion of the public space generated by street vendors has a negative impact on both sales and employment of established retail commerce. The simulations of a reduction of street vendors pinpoint that although street sales account for just 2% of total sales in the four areas under study, they reduce 14% and 16% sales and employment of formal retail commerce respectively. Finally, some limitations of the methodological strategy are raised and some public policy proposals to face the phenomenon are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is an exercise on the ethnographic interpretation of the "paseode olla", an urban practice observed at a traditional park in bogotá, the "Parque Nacional Enrique Olaya Herrera". The text combines ethnographic descriptions and reflections about the urban public space as well as socio-spatial analyses of human interaction. The text emphasizes in the importance of space practices analyses as forms of culture materialization in urban contexts. It also shows the persistence of the family in contemporary urban practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]