| Summary: | Since 2007, the number of street food vendors in Austin, Texas has more than
doubled. Food trucks in the urban environment have three fundamental roles. They are
entrepreneurial start-ups, interim and mobile land uses, and cultural expressions. In these
roles, street food vending particularly impacts urban neighborhoods undergoing change.
By occupying underutilized lots, activating streetscapes, promoting commercial activity
and disseminating culture, mobile food vendors represent an innovative and low cost
revitalization tool. In an effort to “catch-up” with the rapidly growing phenomenon, the
City of Austin has had know choice but to implement policy and regulation reactively.
By conducting in depth interviews and context analysis, this research attempts to answer
the question: how might cities proactively leverage the beneficial impacts of mobile food
vendors? The thesis culminates in a conceptual demonstration project for Birmingham,
Alabama; a city on the cusp of a street food explosion. === text
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