Street sweeping machines are collecting trash that hints at a raucous time the night before: cigarette packs, spliff butts, and empty cannabis baggies litter the narrow alleyways. City workers armed with hoses and brushes scrub at graffiti, navigating past windows draped with red curtains where sex workers are starting their early shifts. But Boer fears a change is coming. This approximately one square kilometer 0. Faced with ever-increasing numbers of tourists and unruly behavior in the Red Light District, Mayor Femke Halsema has embarked on new measures to reduce the number of visitors.
At the end of June, a coalition of 26 high-profile businesses, institutions, and individuals in the Red Light District and the proposed Erotic Center locations started a petition against the plan. Emma, a year-old woman who has worked in the Red Light District for a year, says the group told the mayor they were happy with their current set-up, where there is safety in numbers on the street and a support network. But she feels their comments were dismissed. We already have them. Representatives from the three proposed sites for the new Erotic Center in the north and south of Amsterdam are also unhappy, arguing that the facility could bring unruly behavior to their neighborhoods, and combative consultations between the city and local groups are ongoing.
While financial backers have not yet been found for the center, a final decision on the location is expected in December. One person surprised at the strength of the opposition is Gianni Cito, the architect at the Amsterdam-based firm Moke who came up with the preliminary designs for the Erotic Center.
Two curvaceous and interlinked towers then rise, where potential clients could browse a similar window-style set-up as in the Red Light District. There is also space for social work and medical assistance. Knowing exactly what needs he was catering for was difficult: Cito says the city asked him not to consult directly with sex workers or their clients, telling him that those were political discussions that would take place only between the municipality and groups representing the sex workers.
But given he was working on a concept, rather than a final design, he accepted that such consultations would likely come at a later stage. In the face of the wide-ranging backlash, Mayor Halsema and city officials have spent the last few months strenuously defending the plans. How do you make the city livable for everyone? Nadif says that while there has been vocal opposition from the organized sex workers in the Red Light District, there are more marginalized communities that would benefit from the Erotic Center.
