urbex

English

Alternative forms

• UrbEx

Etymology

Shortened from urban exploration.

Noun

urbex (uncountable)

1. The exploration of man-made environments, especially urban structures; urban exploration.
   • 2009, Nick Walters, edited by Colin Harvey, Trespassers: Future Bristol, page 99:

     Simon didn't need reminding about the dangers of urbex, but Matt was on a roll. […] It had been Matt's blog that had got Simon into urbex.

   • 2013, Frank Doorhof, Mastering the Model Shoot: Everything a Photographer Needs to Know Before, During and After the Shoot, page 35:

     For example, in Belgium, we have some great urbex (urban exploration) locations (old empty buildings) where you can go and shoot.

   • 2015, Veronica Davidov, “9: Abandoned Environments: Producing New Systems of Value Through Urban Exploration”, in Ismael Vaccaro, Krista Harper, Seth Murray, editors, The Anthropology of Postindustrialism: Ethnographies of Disconnection, unnumbered page:

     Ultimately, urbex remains a kind of cipher—occasionally, it catches media attention, and is grouped with other subcultures, like parkour, or even steampunk (Dawdy 2010), that are somehow "remixing" or renegotiating ways to relate to space, and how particular spaces are envisioned to exist within time.

Synonyms

• (urban exploration): UE, urbexing

Derived terms

• urbexer

Anagrams

• exurb