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The Changing Nature of Adult Entertainment Districts: Between a Rock and a Hard Place or Going from Strength to Strength?

Department of Geography, University of Portsmouth, Buckingham Building, Lion Terrace, Portsmouth, PO1 3HE, UK, andrew.ryder{at}port.ac.uk

Civic leaders and urban governments have tried to control adult entertainment activities with a variety of 'command-and-control' techniques, including vice laws, licensing, zoning and land use planning powers. However, despite persistent efforts, they have failed to eliminate such activities. Recently, civic authorities appear to have had some success in closing down or down-sizing adult entertainment districts in many cities, but this success is more apparent than real. Rather than attempting to legislate such activities out of existence, planners and law-makers might consider what factors draw 'vice' to certain areas and try to change those underlying conditions. Adult activities are suburbanising, and face growing competition from the Internet and other on-line services. This trend has been hastened by recent population growth in many cities, leading to increased rents and the expansion of residential and office districts into areas in which adult uses were concentrated. Adult entertainment districts are a retail service cluster, akin to antiques districts or other specialist districts. In addition, in recent years, adult entertainment has been redefined as a range of activities have become legitimate and the number of adult outlets has actually increased.

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