The zoning of adult entertainment establishments : the Nashville-Davidson County, Tennessee experience

Adult entertainment establishments are rarely considered a welcome addition to the urban landscape. In addition to strictly moral reasons, adult entertainment establishments have been cited as a contributor to urban blight. Communities have sought to regulate the growth of this multi-million dollar industry, with varying degrees of success, via obscenity proceedings, licensing provisions, moratoria, and nuisance proceedings.

A relative new type of adult entertainment regulation is that of zoning. Zoning for adult entertainment establishments seeks to treat these uses in a manner which takes into account the characteristics of these uses, and integrate them into the community fabric in a relatively harmonious fashion. Two strategies, dispersion and concentration of these uses, have enjoyed wide practice in the United States.

This work documents the experience of Nashville, Tennessee in the regulation of adult entertainment during the years of 1977 through 1984. Not only are regulations reviewed and evaluated, the politics accompanying these regulations are documented as well.