street vending mapping reveals 78 urban typologies across India
Laari Futures emerges from the Chaal Chaal Organization’s Atlas of (In)Constant Infrastructures research project, which documented 78 street vendor typologies 12 cities of India through maps and drawings. Research has identified it sales cart as more than a vehicle or display surface, showing how it structures the vendor’s occupation of the street, shapes customer interaction, and forms a temporary commercial vantage point in everyday urban space.
Based on this body of work, the design process revisits existing vending typologies to explore how their embedded logic can be extended without fixing or over-formalizing them. This approach led to a process of community engagement with women vendors from the Sathwara Group in Bhuj, structured through collaborative mapping, co-design and consensus-based development.
During this process, it was observed that vendors often rent the cart itself and pay separately for shade and lighting. When these additional costs become unaffordable, sometimes the sale is made directly from the road surface. Therefore, the cart functions not only as a work tool, but also as part of a recurring operating cost that affects the financial stability of vending households.
Gita Ben sets up Peti Laari in the market of Ahmedabad, India | all images courtesy of Chaal Chaal Agency
mobile infrastructure shaped by everyday urban conditions
The initial project results from Chaal Chaal AgencyNano, Vachlo and Motto, form a system of basket typologies that rethink navigation, seating, shade, storage and multi-level viewing. These prototypes extend the basket into a spatial device that structures the relationships between vendor, goods, customers and the street, without requiring fixed construction.
Supported by the Ammodo Architecture Award for Local Scale, the project expands into selling fresh produce and incorporating small-scale technologies. Solar energy systems are introduced into motorized misting units to preserve products, reducing losses associated with heat exposure. The same system also supports lighting, phone charging and fans to improve working conditions during the day.
Laari Futures does not position technology as an aesthetic feature, nor does it treat the vending cart as an object to be formalized. Instead, it places simple infrastructure at the scale of everyday use, aiming to return time, convenience and capacity to sellers while maintaining the mobility of laari. The project proposes a form of urban infrastructure that remains mobile, resilient and closely aligned with the spatial conditions of street life.
Kami Ben sells vegetables from Peti Laari in her residential neighborhood
Geeta Ben sells vegetables in the market
taking the carts home
