Governance traps of informal vending: spatial logics and fragmented authority in jordanian transit nodes

Informal vending in transport environments remains insufficiently integrated in urban research. This study examines how informal vending in four Jordanian bus terminals—Ajloun, Zarqa, Irbid, and Amman North—is produced through interaction between spatial enabling conditions and governance dynamics. Using spatial mapping, structured observation, surveys, and interviews, the paper analyzes why vending emerges in three terminals but is absent in the fourth. Findings demonstrate that informal vending requires spatial enabling conditions—pedestrian interface, urban adjacency, and micro-territorial opportunity—to become viable. Where present, governance contradictions modulate morphology, producing three configurations: clustered formations under patronage tolerance (Ajloun), linear arrangements under institutional inertia (Zarqa), and edge encroachments under performative enforcement (Irbid). The study introduces governance traps—stabilized configurations where fragmented authority and selective enforcement reproduce informal occupation without formal resolution. Each trap variant operates through feedback mechanisms locking both parties into tolerated informality. The negative case (Amman North) establishes spatial viability as a necessary precondition: governance contradictions alone cannot generate informality where spatial conditions preclude economic viability. By integrating spatial morphology and governance analysis, the paper reframes informal vending as a spatially enabled phenomenon negotiated through fragmented authority. The study recommends spatial design interventions and negotiated management strategies tailored to specific governance-spatial configurations, moving beyond enforcement-centric approaches.