Light, traces and identity: The embodied experiences of urban explorers within abandoned spaces

Urban exploration is an activity which requires practitioners to be within and move through derelict, abandoned, or otherwise off-limits spaces. These spaces possess a range of affective qualities, thus affording the urban explorers who embody them sensorial experiences that may not be accessible within increasingly sanitised urban public spaces. This research utilises a combination of qualitative video analysis, online ethnography, and narrative storytelling to understand the embodied experiences of the urban explorers who frequent abandoned spaces, and how they choose to represent these spaces through social media and other online sources. Five locations within the North of England and the East Midlands were selected to be the focus of this research. A total of 99 videos and 54 narrative forum posts, which detailed the personal experiences of urban explorers at these locations, were analysed. The findings highlight that, whilst space is experienced subjectively, there are a number of affective qualities that influence how urban explorers may perceive abandoned spaces. Furthermore, this research notes that many abandoned spaces retain material traces that reflect their former uses. The urban explorer is represented as an investigator who embodies these traces, reassembling the histories of the spaces that they visit. This research also evaluates academic criticism that the urban explorer identity is controversially linked to the idealisation of masculinity and white privilege. It does this through delving into the relationships that explorers have with positionality, identity, and online representation, finding that there is some evidence of assumed white privilege and hypocritical behaviours by a small minority of the urban exploration community.