Urban Political Dynamics in the Management of Street Vendors in Makassar: A Conflict of Interests Between the City Government and Street Vendors (A Study of the Losari Beach Tourist Area)

Abstract

This study analyses the dynamics of urban politics in the regulation of street vendors (PKL) 
in the Losari Beach tourist area of Makassar City, which has become an arena for conflicting 
interests between the city government and the informal economy. Using a qualitative 
approach with a case study design, this study explores regulations, street vendor responses, 
and government solutions through semi-structured interviews with street vendors, the 
Public Order Agency, the Tourism Office, the Cooperatives and MSMEs Office, and field 
observations. The analysis utilizes Thomas R. Dye's public policy theory and Lewis A. 
Coser's social conflict theory. This paper shows that Regional Regulation No. 7 of 2021 and 
Mayoral Regulation No. 29 of 2018 serve as the basis for regulating and relocating street 
vendors, but their implementation is dominated by a top-down and repressive approach that 
prioritizes urban aesthetics and the image of the tourist area over the vendors' economic 
sustainability. Street vendor resistance does not emerge as pure defiance, but rather an 
economic adaptation strategy due to the unstrategic relocation location and declining 
income, manifested through clandestine selling practices or returning to old locations. 
Government solutions such as shift systems, relocation, and empowerment of MSMEs have 
been ineffective due to minimal vendor participation in policy planning and the gap between 
policy design and socio-economic realities. This study concludes that conflicts over street 
vendor management reflect an imbalance in power relations in the management of urban 
public spaces. Therefore, policies that focus solely on visual order without integrating the 
sustainability of street vendor livelihoods will continue to trigger recurring social resistance