Red Lights and Safety Zones

The area in which street prostitution takes place is defined historically as a ‘redlight area’. In Walsall, the red-light area is also a vibrant residential area. The redlight area is a contested site that includes visible evidence of the social, economic and spatial dynamics of prostitution, alongside local development and regeneration. The area is a cultural space and a site of both consumption and display marked also by evidence of the shifting responses to prostitution, traffic calming and CCTV cameras. Residents have contested their spaces and their right to live without the display of street prostitution via resident action, street patrols, and demands for research and strategic management.