Urban exploration

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Urban Explorer in front of a rainwater inlet in Saint Paul

Urban Exploration or Urban Exploring (short: Urbex / Urbexing ) or city ​​exploration is the private exploration of facilities in urban space and so-called lost places . Often it is about exploring old industrial ruins , but also sewer systems , catacombs , roofs or other rooms of unused facilities. However, the term is also used for exploring freely accessible places such as parks. The photographic documentation and artistic processing of such urban explorations founded the still young genre of ruins photography .

motivation

Photo work by an urban explorer

For most urban explorers (also known as Urbexers for short ), the motivation lies in the discovery and documentation of the objects in the aesthetics and romance that those places bring with them, as well as in the experience of an authentic, historical atmosphere. In addition, the naturalization that occurs and the decay after leaving previously used facilities and structured businesses as well as the contrast to modern urban investment and order are described as a relaxing and liberating escape from civilization. In factories that have been shut down for a long time, there are often numerous graffiti or bizarre pictures, for example of trees growing out of the walls. Most of the Urban Explorer capture these impressions in photos, some of which are surreal. Ruin photography is now seen as a separate genre of photography. In addition to photography and the exploration itself, Urban Explorers, depending on their personal interests, also conduct historical research, create online documentation on facilities that are threatened with disappearing or total decay, or seek the sporting challenge of overcoming obstacles and intrusion into difficult to access, active systems.

An essential moment is the exploration of the last blank spots , "which were not designed as spectacles", as Guy Debord puts it.

Objects

building

Dilapidated industrial hall in the bottle tower in Berlin
Heating system of the former Reichsbahn repair shop in Engelsdorf near Leipzig

Entry into disused and abandoned buildings is one of the most common forms of urban exploration. Most of these are old industrial buildings, but also former public facilities such as hospitals or schools, which have often been sprayed intensively with graffiti and in some cases severely demolished, as well as showing intense signs of weathering. While many buildings are only simply or partially locked and thus easily accessible, other facilities can only be entered with great difficulty due to motion detectors, security personnel or guard dogs. Abandoned buildings are especially popular with photographers, graffiti artists and for historical reasons. Some YouTubers have also specialized in exploring lost places.

roofs

A roofer on a roof in Frankfurt.
A roofer on a roof in Frankfurt.

The rooftopper , a popular sub-group, focus on roofs and other high climbing objects. They step on the roofs of high-rise buildings, radio masts and other structures without authorization or security.

Bunkers and galleries

Historically interested urban explorers in particular like to explore underground bunkers , underground relocations and tunnels from the Nazi era or the Cold War era . In addition, old mining facilities are increasingly coming into focus.

catacombs

Underground catacombs such as the catacombs of Paris , Rome and Naples are particularly exotic expedition destinations .

Sewer systems

Entering sewers (also known as draining or digging ) is another common form of urban exploration. In Australia , the Cave Clan was formed in 1986 , whose activities focus on climbing sewers. A few people also walk the underground sewers of sewage treatment plants.

Subway tunnel

There is also particular interest in old, abandoned subway shafts.

Supply systems

Universities and other larger institutions such as hospitals, whose heating systems are centrally supplied with steam, often have larger underground systems that are only accessible for maintenance work. These were often entered by students without permission, whereupon the term vadding , derived from the computer game adventure , was established at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the 1970s .

Military installations

There is also great interest in abandoned military facilities, such as the submarine bunker Elbe II and the Pydna missile base .

Educational institutions

Abandoned schools, libraries or conference centers are the subject here. In particular, rural folk high schools have been abandoned.

hazards

Urban exploration can pose a variety of dangers. These include above all structures at risk of collapsing, hazardous substances including gases, non-isolated power sources, accidents in subway tunnels due to collisions and roofers slipping off roofs and other climbing objects .

Legal position

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Germany

Fort du Salbert in the northwest of Belfort

Since there aren't many property managers who can understand Urban Explorer, and special permits are extremely difficult to obtain, many pursue their hobby without the necessary permits. That is why urban exploration is mostly trespassing , which is only prosecuted at the request of the owner. Urban explorers are not interested in destroying, stealing or otherwise causing damage to the property or building and the furnishings that are still in place, but rather about photographic and historical documentation. People who visit industrial ruins out of anger for destruction or copper thieves who steal and sell still existing materials and copper cables are not included under the term Urban Explorer and are rejected by the urban exploration scene.

In contrast to private, mostly illegal exploration tours, organizations such as the Berliner Unterwelten or Unterirdisches Zeitz associations offer official tours and sightseeing tours of old urban facilities. While this legalizes the excursion , it also erases part of the culture. "When you start to conserve or interpret the places, you cross a line," says British cultural geographer Caitlin DeSilvey.

Switzerland

In Switzerland, unauthorized entry into property constitutes trespassing , which is why perpetrators can be punished with a fine or imprisonment of up to three years at the request of the property owner.

England

Trespassing is not a criminal offense in England, but since Urban Exploring has become very popular in London in particular , many building owners have applied for what is known as an Injunction , which means that Urban Explorer can be punished with fines or imprisonment. There is only one known case in which a court sentenced a rooftopper for an injury, namely that of an Englishman who climbed the tallest building in the country ( The Shard ). He was sentenced to six months in prison.

literature

  • Ninjalicious: Access All Areas: A User's Guide to the Art of Urban Exploration. Infilpress 2005, ISBN 0973778709 (English)
  • Kay von Keitz, Sabine Voggenreiter (eds.): En passant - traveling through urban spaces: perspectives of a different kind of city perception. Jovis Verlag, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86859-061-6
  • Bradley Garrett: Explore Everything: Place-Hacking the City . Verso, London 2013, ISBN 978-1781681299
  • Erik Haffner, Bernhard Hoëcker, Tobias Zimmermann: Hoëcker's discoveries: a strange picture book of long-forgotten places. Riva Verlag 2011, ISBN 978-3868831726
  • Bernd Käpplinger, Maren Elfert (Ed.): Abandoned Places of Adult Education. Studies in Pedagogy, Andragogy and Gerontagogy. Peter Lang, Berlin 2018. ISBN 978-3-631-75735-2
  • Harald A. Jahn: Kenopsia. Urban Explorations and Lost Places in Vienna. Phoibos Verlag, Vienna 2019. ISBN 978-3-85161-214-1

Movie and TV

Web links

Commons : Urban exploration  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ruin Photography: Detroit is also in Europe. In: DiePresse.com. April 16, 2015, accessed January 19, 2018 .
  2. ↑ On the charm of untidy places
  3. ↑ a b Felix Stephan : Window to the unadorned past. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . May 12, 2012, Retrieved May 12, 2012 .
  4. ↑ Heimvolkshochschule Falkenstein on deinip.de
  5. ↑ Napola Ballenstedt on rottenplaces.de
  6. ↑ SR 311.0 Swiss Criminal Code of December 21, 1937. Retrieved on March 4, 2020 .
  7. ↑ Amy Walker: Shard freeclimber jailed for 24 weeks for breaching injunction . In: The Guardian . October 21, 2019, ISSN  0261-3077 ( theguardian.com [accessed March 4, 2020]).