MACMILLAN An Ethnography of Urban Exploration: Unpacking Heterotopic Social Space (Leisure Studies in a Global Era)

This book analyses a unique leisure world that has been built around a newly emerging phenomenon known as urban exploration; the art of exploring human-made environments which are generally abandoned or hidden from sight of the public eye. Drawing on Michel Foucault’s concept of heterotopia, Bingham provides a detailed and critical investigation of urban exploration as a form of leisure that is about the coming together of drifting performers who, in their celebration of ‘rebellion’ and ‘deviance’, are determined to find a sense of meaning and belonging.The research considers the influence of consumer capitalism on urban explorers, and the wider social, economic and political context that shapes ideas of belonging and identity in the twenty-first century. By doing this, the book analyses urban exploration as an activity that has emerged in a time when human ideas about culture, individuality and community have transformed, and ‘solid’ modernity is gradually disintegrating around us. This multi and interdisciplinary work will appeal to people with an interest in ‘abnormal’ or ‘deviant’ leisure, as well as academics from sociology, anthropology, social geography, leisure studies, cultural studies, sport and recreation and tourism. Review “Kevin Bingham’s book aims to find a new way of looking at urban exploration.  Presenting a ‘new way’ is an easy claim to assert in any work – but Bingham actually delivers on his promise. He does so by deftly re-orientating the analytical frame towards consumption-based leisure practices as they operate within the age of Zygmunt Bauman’s 'liquid modernity'. Bingham draws richly and inventively from his own fieldwork in order to develop his new ways of interpreting the urbex phenomenon. Shorn of what Ulrich Beck has called, the lingering influence of outdated, but presently undead, 'zombie concepts', Bingham’s analysis is both ethnographically evocative and theoretically persuasive.” ― Luke Bennett, Sheffield Hallam University, UK From the Back Cover This book analyses a unique leisure world that has been built around a newly emerging phenomenon known as urban exploration; the art of exploring human-made environments which are generally abandoned or hidden from sight of the public eye. Drawing on Michel Foucault’s concept of heterotopia, Bingham provides a detailed and critical investigation of urban exploration as a form of leisure that is about the coming together of drifting performers who, in their celebration of ‘rebellion’ and ‘deviance’, are determined to find a sense of meaning and belonging.The research considers the influence of consumer capitalism on urban explorers, and the wider social, economic and political context that shapes ideas of belonging and identity in the twenty-first century. By doing this, the book analyses urban exploration as an activity that has emerged in a time when human ideas about culture, individuality and community have transformed, and ‘solid’ modernity is gradually disintegrating around us. This multi and interdisciplinary work will appeal to people with an interest in ‘abnormal’ or ‘deviant’ leisure, as well as academics from sociology, anthropology, social geography, leisure studies, cultural studies, sport and recreation and tourism. About the Author Kevin P. Bingham is Associate Lecturer and Research Associate at Sheffield Hallam University, UK.