Tippelzone
A defined Dutch area, usually a road or car park away from housing, where street sex work is tolerated within fixed hours, with municipal supervision and health outreach on site.
Tippelen is Dutch for soliciting on the street. The zones were harm reduction rather than permissiveness: the reasoning was that street work would happen anyway, and that concentrating it somewhere supervised was safer than leaving it scattered. The Hague opened the first in 1983 and Rotterdam followed in 1984. Most have since closed — the guide records which, and when.
The full account, with its sources, is in our guide to The Dutch Tippelzone.
Frequently asked questions
What was the purpose?
Harm reduction. Concentrating street work in a supervised area was judged safer than leaving it scattered.
Do they still exist?
Very few. The guide tracks which remain and when the others closed.