Conceptualizing Urban Exploration as Beyond Tourism and as Anti-Tourism

Abstract

Urban Exploration (U.E.), the activity of exploring hidden parts of the city, is increasingly discussed in a range of academic papers, yet the aspects of this activity which are associated with travel and consumption have not been explored. However, there have been a number of related calls for research. This paper identifies that U.E. requires greater critical inquiry. It is noted that U.E. draws common themes with heritage tourism, adventure tourism, otherness, authenticity and risk, yet is a contradiction to the homogenised tourist experience. It is suggested that U.E. can thus be interpreted as a form of tourism which is outside of accepted norms of behaviour, decision making and typologies and which has significant meaning for future research. Thus, the paper proposes a model which identifies opportunities for further research beyond the current spectrum of tourism academia

Keywords

• Nostalgia, Tourist Gaze, Semiotics, Photography, Authenticity, Urban, Exploration