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Despite the increasing number of shopping centers day by day, the urban markets, whose visitors and popularities continue to increase, are the facts of urban life that have been left behind in terms of making even ordinary analyses on their historical positions and socio-economic stances. Urban markets are intense areas of socialization apart from all their important features. In this context, the quality and quantity of times spent in these areas should be configured in the best possible manner. The main subject of this study is the evaluation of the urban markets (district bazaar/street market), which is a subject worth to be examined in historical, architectural, economic, environmental, scientific and sociological aspects, specifically in Bilecik (Turkey), with regard to urban planning and design criteria. In the study, it is aimed to examine the study areas comparatively in line with the surveys that contain general questions that will determine the planning and design preferences applied to the users in two marketplaces in different parts of the city in Bilecik and the observation studies made in the market places. The gathered data were analyzed using normal statistical methods of the SPSS program. A set of urban market items were defined using the factor analysis in order for designating the main and underlying factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The urban Ibadan market is not only important for its economic value, but also for its representation of the worldview of the Yoruba people of South-Western Nigeria. Yoruba urban markets are adorned with different spiritualists who also earn their livelihood in the market space. Hence, through the employment of observations and in-depth interviews, the study examines how spirituality shapes child health and mothers' health seeking behaviours in Ibadan urban markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wet markets, a 'traditional' form of food retail, have maintained their popularity in urban China despite the rapid expansion of 'modern' supermarket chains. Their continued popularity rests in the freshness of their food. Chinese consumers regard freshness as the most important aspect of food they buy, but what constitutes 'freshness' in produce is not simply a given. Freshness is actively produced by a range of actors including wholesalers, vendors as well as consumers. The paper examines what fresh food means to consumers in the Chinese market. It argues that wet markets create a sense of freshness that resonates with this culinary culture through their sensoria, atmosphere, and trust between food vendors and consumers. Together these respond to desires for and reproduce criteria used to evaluate freshness. Within a fragmented food trade system, wet market vendors have an advantage in offering 'freshness' through their ability to connect various wholesalers, agencies, and middlemen, and shorten supply chains. The paper is based on participatory observation, a consumer survey and in-depth interviews of various stakeholders in southern China, especially Sanya in Hainan and Guangzhou in Guangdong. This study suggests that this cultural construction of freshness creates a niche for small-scale players and 'traditional' markets in an increasingly concentrated global food system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]