National Conference 2023 on Built Environment and Beyond 2.0: Theory, Practice and Pedagogy 3 Public Spaces and Street Vendors in Mumbai A Theoretical Understanding of Urban Reciprocity Ar. Jwalant Dave Assistant Professor, Rizvi College of Architecture, Mumbai emailjwalantdave@gmail.com Ar. Urvashi Purohit Assistant Professor, Aditya College of Architecture, Mumbai urvashipurohit@gmail.com Ar. Mayuresh Gorey Associate Professor, D.Y. Patil College of Architecture, Mumbai mayureshgorey86@gmail.com Abstract: Street vending is not only one of the most prominent, observable and prevalent forms of the informality in urban areas; it is also one of the most resilient forms of the informal urban economy. It contributes towards the generation of economic activity at the neighborhood scale and also adds value to urban living by providing a necessary convenience of more direct access to numerous commodities and services for a far wider demographic spectrum than addressed by most formal means of distribution. This research focuses on the city of Mumbai, the financial capital of India, and attempts to identify the specific relationships that street vending activities develop with the public spaces within which they are conducted and the impacts it has on these spaces. It also investigates the influence that the physical form and spatial characteristics of the public space have on the type of vending activity and the manner in which it is conducted. The research examines the existing policies and legislation that govern street vending in India, as well as the specific scenarios that exist as the ground reality for street vending activities. It also relies on available scholarly literature and established theoretical concepts to develop a methodology to study these specific scenarios and identify the nature of the intrinsic interdependence between urban public spaces and street vending activities. A matrix of evaluation is derived from this methodology and applied to various areas of the city where street vending is prevalent to obtain and analyze tangible and measurable data. The findings reveal identifiable patterns of street vending associated with specific typologies of public spaces and these are organized into distinct categories. The research concludes with specific recommendations for developing a regulatory tool kit that addresses the needs and concerns of street vending activities in the context of the particular public spaces that host them while also ensuring that other activities of a public nature that are conducted in the same public spaces are not impacted adversely. Keywords: street vending: urban informal economy; public spaces; social inclusion; regulatory controls