Urban Exploration

Ventures into abandoned structures are perhaps the most common example of urban exploration. Abandoned sites are generally entered first by locals, and often sport large amounts of graffiti. Explorers face various risks in abandoned structures including collapsing roofs and floors, broken glass,guard dogs,the presence of chemicals,other harmful substances, most notably asbestos, hostile squatters and sometimes motion detectors. Exploration targets vary from one country to another, but some of the more popular or high-profile abandonments include amusement parks, factories, hospitals, asylums etc. Many explorers of abandonments find the decay of uninhabited spaces to be beautiful; many of these explorers are also photographers. Some abandonments are heavily guarded with motion sensors and active security. Others are more easily accessible and carry less risk of discovery.

"take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints"

Urban exploration (often shortened as urbex or UE) is the examination of the normally unseen or off-limits parts of human civilization. Urban exploration is also commonly referred to as "creeping" or infiltration. Over in the USA, it may also be referred to as "draining" (when exploring drains) "urban spelunking", and "urban caving", "vadding", "trolling", "building hacking", "reality hacking" or "roof and tunnel hacking".