Street Vending and Design Thinking: A Provocation

Abstract

The spontaneity of make/do culture of street vendors in Bangkok is an example of the practice of integrative thinking and contextual praxis that predates and parallels the postmodern integrative and contextual advocacies of Design Thinking. It is materialized as resourcefulness and flexibility in the eclectic creation of vending stalls whether mobile or otherwise, and also as the improvisational intervention of street vendors in public space. It taps into the indigenous cultural condition of Buddhism of ‘an aware mind’ which according to Julia Cameron is the state of creativity. Contemporary designers can learn from the practices of the street vendors in Thailand. As such, Thai street vending reveals a link between Thai culture and Buddhism, and Design Thinking.