To begin, please connect headphones and choose a language. 93a10 10 0 0 1 0 14. 46a5 tacos de canasta 0 0 1 0 7. Cities are places where commerce, entertainment, and human drama unfold in the public sphere — on streets and sidewalks, in parks and plazas.

The noises of life playing out in public create an urban soundscape unique to each city. In Mexico City, many notes in the city’s soundscape come from itinerant merchants — a largely informal labor force that traverses the city’s streets and alleys selling goods, buying things, and offering services. Each type of merchant calls out to potential customers with a unique, identifying noise or cry. Each of their sounds give another layer of meaning to the din of this beautiful metropolis. A Part of Daily Life With records of their presence dating back to the days of the Aztecs, mobile vendors have long been a part of life and commerce in the city. Mexico City, and have come to occupy an important place in the economic system and culture of the city.

This integral status, however, is threatened by changes in the global supply chain, shifting consumer habits, and the rise of app-enabled shopping and delivery services. Their bike is outfitted with an ingenious contraption that uses the rotation of the bike’s wheels to spin a whet stone for sharpening. The bell tolls for thee: anyone with bags of garbage piled up at home. A Largely Informal Economy Despite the large number of itinerant merchants in CDMX, the legality of their work is unclear. There has long been conversation about regulating them — an effort that could bring more tax revenue to the city as well as more control over traffic flow and food safety.

But city officials have opted instead for a kind of management through legal ambiguity, an approach that allows the government to crack down on these merchants or let them be, depending on what is politically expedient. Operating in a legal gray area does mean that workers can often avoid paying taxes, rent on a space, or licensure fees. But there are a host of other important financial realities to consider. For example, Jony Albino, who works as an organ grinder with his wife and his sister, does not own his instrument. The informal economy can also leave workers vulnerable to harassment, fines, and extortion. This wide range of experiences — from the struggles to the successes — can all be heard on the streets of CDMX.

Use the menu bar to exit. The sounds can delight, annoy, and inspire. María Del Mar, has become a symbol of the city. Scenes of informal workers being harassed and their belongings seized are common. I’m not out here stealing, I’m just trying to earn a living! Vendors disperse and police save face without arresting anyone.

The soundscape of the city is not fixed. It changes as the city does. As services become outdated — needs and preferences evolve, residents are displaced by new waves of gentrification and development, regulations shift — sounds inevitably disappear. Organ music simply isn’t as appealing to younger generations. But if the past is any predictor, new sounds may well arrive to take the place of sounds that are disappearing. In this way, the soundtrack of a city changes generation by generation. Old sounds fade and new sounds arrive as the city and its current inhabitants generate a unique sonic landscape.

Each voice, each timbre, and each noise coalesces into an auditory record of life in that particular time and place. Mario Barbosa, professor and researcher at Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Unidad Cuajimalpa. Irene Farah, PhD candidate at UC Berkeley Department of Regional and City Planning. Carlos Alba Vega, professor investigator and coordinator of the Permanent Seminar on Work and Inequality at El Colegio de México. And an enormous thank you to all the workers and merchants who shared their experiences and their sounds with us.