Goldsmith Talks: Monopolizing Hucksters and Pepper-Pot Peddlers - A Brief History of Public Markets and the Informal Economy

Public markets have historically been the civic spaces where the formal and informal, the planned and unplanned, the privileged and the marginalized, converge. At various points, planners and civic leaders have deemed different social and economic activities morally acceptable or unacceptable. By exploring the history of planning for the unplanned in public markets, we can better understand current trends in public spaces and the urban economy.

Presenting this history is Jack Tiebout, a second-year Community and Regional Planning student currently working with an interdisciplinary team of architecture and business students to develop a proposal for a public market at Central Health’s new medical district. In addition to his work on the proposal, Jack has been conducting an independent study on the management and design of public markets. As a former fishmonger and urban farmer, Jack also brings first-hand experience navigating the peculiar world of public markets.

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Goldsmith Talks is an open-format series of presentations organized by UTSOA faculty, staff, and students. the series aims to encourage and promote presentations that are outside of the scope of the main lecture series. Examples are: invited seminar presentations, book talks, lectures by designers and scholars who may be in Austin for another engagement, round-table discussions, film screenings, product demonstrations, or any other activity related to research, scholarship, and teaching activities and at the school. The format provides a platform for encouraging the dissemination of work by visitors and members of our community. The goal is to raise awareness, increase access, and better integrate such events within the public life of the school.