Summary

In this study, we examine the experience of neoliberal urban transition among streetbased sex workers in Bangalore, India, in its impact on the urban space they operate within and on the reconfiguration of the human ecology around them. Contemporary urban transition in Bangalore has not only redefined the meaning and purpose of urban public space (the principal areas of operation for these workers) but has also changed the disposition of other actors in those spaces (who for long were accomplices) to street-based sex work. Modulations in spaces and among actors that have for long been the lifeline of street-based sex work in this city (which has no significant red-light area as the entire city is one) have pushed these workers into a deeper marginalisation.