By Salvatore Speredelozzi
Urban exploration, sometimes shortened as Urbex, refers to the practice of entering and exploring locations or structures that have been abandoned, forgotten, hidden, or made otherwise inaccessible. Many urban explorers are also photographers, so you can enjoy the amazing records of their discoveries at websites such as Opacity and Lost In America. Flickr.com supports a thriving community of urbex photographers as well as an Urban Abandonments group. Other explorers prefer to sketch their finds or to use old-skool Dungeons & Dragons graph paper to map out new sites for the benefit of future explorers.
When you mention urban exploration, most people think of abandoned buildings or sewer tunnels. There's a lot more to it, however, and a number of closely related offshoots exist. For example, those who attempt to access secret, secure, or "members only" sites that are still in use are called "infiltrators" (and occasionally, "creepers".) Infiltrators who concentrate on reaching the roofs and sub-basements often identify as "roof and tunnel hackers" or "reality hackers." Infiltrators run the risk of being caught and prosecuted for trespassing (or worse, if it's a government facility) but urban explorers usually encounter much less security (or none at all, since many of these locations have been forgotten.) If this kind of cat and mouse game sounds like your cup of tea, you'll want to check out Infiltration. Exploring sewers (aka "draining") has fallen out of favor due to the extreme risks involved. Even though toxic gas buildups can be a quick and silent killer, a handful of naive explorers still delve into the sewers — and every year some of their bodies are discovered by maintenance workers.
For an introduction to urban exploration, Urban Exploration Resource is ideal. UER features photography, tutorials, basic info on urban exploration, and a database of exploration sites that can be searched by region. There's an active message board and you can search for groups that meet in your local area. To whet your appetite for adventure, you can check out fascinating photo-records of New York area explorations at Industrial New York. Another excellent site is New York City: The LTV Squad. If you're serious about the hobby, you might also want to subscribe to Jinx, the most well-known U.S. publication dedicated to Urban Exploration.
Urban Exploration is an exciting hobby that can satisfy the primal human instinct to explore and discover. Done responsibly, it can also be very safe — as long as you understand and address the inherent dangers. During any given expedition, you may encounter broken glass, crumbling or collapsing structures, guard dogs, hostile squatters, motion detectors, exposed wiring, toxic substances (such as asbestos, carbon monoxide, industrial chemicals, medical waste, or molds), and territorial animals or insects. It's always important to dress appropriately and to bring basic survival supplies such as water, food rations, bandages, antiseptic, tweezers, flashlights, cutters, lighters, cellphones, chalk/waterproof markers, some strong and lightweight rope, etc. Depending on the specific site you're visiting, you might also need appropriate breathing masks or other gear. Some abandoned structures are overrun with pigeons, and large amounts of pigeon guano introduces dangerous contaminants into the air, making it unsafe to breath and requiring an appropriate mask.
As an extreme example of dangerous urban exploration, David McMillan's photo expeditions of Chernobyl 10 years after the nuclear meltdown take the cake. At Pripyat and the 30k Zone you cab check out his haunting historical document.
Many urban explorers are naturally independent, but it's always important to explore in groups of three or more people — with an additional non-participant being notified of your planned route and your expected return time. If someone breaks a leg in a decommissioned missile silo — ten stories underneath a stretch of remote farmland — you'll want to know that someone will be expecting you and send help if you don’ return. Cellphones don't usually work well in many abandoned locations, so you need to plan all of this in advance. Most serious urban explorers now carry GPS devices, helping them to locate sites and to report them accurately to others. If you use GPS, always leave the coordinates of where you plan to explore with your contact person so that rescuers can easily find you if needed.
Due to increased media attention, serious hobbyists have had to adopt a heightened level of discretion. But as you develop relationships with other explorers, they will begin to share information with you about newer locations. Wherever you live, there are secrets for you to uncover. Discarded structures are the inevitable by-products of human activity, from military bunkers and abandoned mines to forgotten sewers and abandoned buildings. Urbex has become extremely popular throughout the European Union and there are now groups all over the world.
For more information, check out Melody Gilbert's 2007 film Urban Explorers: Into the Darkness or catch reruns of the Discovery Channel’s 5-episode Urban Explorers or the History Channel’s ongoing series Cities of the Underworld. Dozens of books have been published on the topic, including Access All Areas: A User's Guide to the Art of Urban Exploration by Ninjalicious. For some more incredible photos, check out Dead Malls and Defunct Parks, which dedicate themselves to abandoned shopping malls and amusement parks. For a guide to photographing abandoned buildings, there's a great article at Web Aperture.
