Market adaptation and informal vendor resilience after relocation: habitus, capital, and arena in Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Purpose This study aims to extend social resilience understanding by examining how policy-induced relocation restructures the conditions under which habitus and different forms of capital can be activated and converted, thereby shaping uneven resilience outcomes among informal food vendors in Yogyakarta city. Design/methodology/approach A case study design was used to examine the resilience of food court vendors relocated from Alun-alun Sewandanan to Sentul Market. Data were collected from ten vendors and two Trade Office representatives through interviews, observations, and documentation between February and April 2026, and analyzed thematically using Bourdieu's concepts of habitus, capital, and arena alongside resilience theory. Findings The findings show that vendors adopted many strategies following relocation, but their resilience varied according to the composition and convertibility of their capital. The new arena constrained symbolic and social capital and generated individual and collective hysteresis. The study therefore shows that resilience depends not only on adaptive capacity but also on the structural conditions that enable capital conversion. Originality/value Theoretically, this study contributes to Bourdieu's theory of capital by showing that capital can lose its usefulness when the new arena does not allow it to be effectively mobilized. Practically, the findings suggest that successful relocation requires more than providing a new space; it requires institutional conditions that allow vendors' existing resources to function in that space.