Abstract

In this article, we examine the regulation of street vending in Temuco, Chile, through the Foucauldian concept of "security dispositif" within the framework of neoliberal governmentality. Drawing on ethnographies conducted between 2017 and 2022, we analyze how the control of public space responds to a governmental rationality that idealizes the city through three strategies: the legitimization of legal space use to exclude certain groups, the physical transformation of spaces to restrict mobility, and the subjectivation of vendors as actors in "illegal" activities. We conclude that the security dispositif legitimizes the management of public space towards the creation of a "cleaned-up" city, although it has not achieved the intended goals of beautification and order, nor a significant reduction in street vending after more than a decade of implementing these plans.