Many European city centres have seen increasing investment in the last decades, and policies have targeted centrally-located red light districts in particular for regeneration and clean-up. The literature tends to discuss these interventions and the associated social changes in terms of state-led gentrification. While such a classification may serve critical inquiry, we argue that the use of the concept may also entail certain assumptions regarding the future of these areas: their eventual demise as diverse areas with sex-related economic activities. Through a qualitative study of long-term residents, visitors and entrepreneurs in Soho, London and De Wallen, Amsterdam, we highlight how different changes are experienced depending on a person’s positioning. We also identify how locals exert some control over how these processes play out. The outcome, for the time being, has been a continuation of red light activities, albeit modified and adapted to the preferences of new residents, visitors, large investors and the state. For these reasons, we argue that the process and its outcomes should be understood as a distinct mode of neighbourhood change, namely ‘red light gentrification’. Our conceptualisation of gentrification as a locally embedded process demonstrates that the outcomes of state and market pressures are more contingent on local context than ideal-typical or policy-based understandings allow.

中文翻译：

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伦敦苏活区和阿姆斯特丹德瓦伦的红灯高档化

在过去的几十年中，许多欧洲城市中心看到了越来越多的投资，并且政策针对的是位于中心的红灯区，特别是用于再生和清洁。文献倾向于从国家主导的绅士化的角度讨论这些干预措施和相关的社会变革。尽管这种分类可能会引起严格的询问，但我们认为，使用该概念可能还会对这些领域的未来做出某些假设：它们最终消亡为与性别相关的经济活动的不同领域。通过对伦敦Soho，伦敦和阿姆斯特丹De Wallen的长期居民，来访者和企业家的定性研究，我们强调了如何根据个人的定位经历不同的变化。我们还确定了本地人如何对这些过程如何发挥作用进行控制。结果，暂时，红灯活动仍在继续，尽管它已根据新居民，游客，大投资者和国家的喜好进行了修改和调整。由于这些原因，我们认为该过程及其结果应被理解为邻里变化的一种独特模式，即“红灯高档化”。我们将高级化概念化为本地嵌入的过程表明，与理想的典型或基于政策的理解相比，国家和市场压力的结果更取决于本地情况。我们认为，该过程及其结果应被理解为邻里变化的一种独特模式，即“红灯高档化”。我们将高级化概念化为本地嵌入的过程表明，与理想的典型或基于政策的理解相比，国家和市场压力的结果更取决于本地情况。我们认为，该过程及其结果应被理解为邻里变化的一种独特模式，即“红灯高档化”。我们将高级化概念化为本地嵌入的过程表明，与理想的典型或基于政策的理解相比，国家和市场压力的结果更取决于本地情况。