Urbex

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The practice involves navigating desolate urban sites and neglected buildings to reveal their cultural significance and stories
2. This activity revolves around surveying and photographing forsaken structures within cities to appreciate their past and aesthetics
3. The exploration entails visiting abandoned urban locations to uncover historical narratives and aesthetic experiences

Etymology: "Urbex" is a clipped form of "urban exploration," the name for the hobby of entering abandoned buildings and sites in cities, such as derelict factories, hospitals, and tunnels. The word is built by taking the first syllables of each part of that phrase and joining them: "ur" from "urban" and "bex" from "exploration." Clipping of this kind is common in informal English, where long phrases are shortened into quick, memorable labels that fit easily into conversation and online tags. The word is a noun, and it names the activity itself rather than the people who take part in it, though it is often used loosely for both. Its meaning covers visits to abandoned urban places in order to uncover their past and to appreciate the look and feel of decay. Because the term is an informal coinage built from a longer phrase, its history is simply that of the phrase it abbreviates.

Synonyms: urban exploration