Urbex

What is urbex?

Urban exploration

Urbex, short for "urban exploration," is the practice of exploring abandoned or hidden city structures. For example, someone who explores abandoned tunnels underneath a university is engaging in urbex. Daring adventurers, photographers, and historians are most likely to engage in urbex.

Is urbex illegal?

In many cases, yes. Urbex often involves trespassing onto private or condemned property to get a better look at a hidden structure, or to find a new view of a city. While some urban explorers explore only legally, many break the law while engaging in urbex.

What are some examples of urbex sites?

Urban explorers often explore abandoned factories, sewer systems, schools, sanatoriums, amusement parks, and power plants. Some also explore non-abandoned structures, attempting to access areas that are normally secured or hidden.

What are some other names for urbex?

While urbex is the most common abbreviation for urban exploration, you may also see the phrase shortened to UE. You may also hear urbex called urban spelunking, building hacking, roof-and-tunnel hacking, urban rock climbing, or urban caving.

Example

My brother's super into urbex. He gets some great pictures, but I'm worried he's going to get arrested
An urbex video on Twitter
An urbex video on Twitter

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Updated September 1, 2021

Urbex definition by Slang.net

This page explains what the abbreviation "Urbex" means. The definition, example, and related terms listed above have been written and compiled by the Slang.net team.

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