Bunkerology - a case study in the theory and practice of urban exploration

This paper reviews existing academic interpretations of ‘urban exploration’ and argues that focus to date on identifying and celebrating the transgressive and/or emancipatory dimension of this practice has failed to account for the taxonomic and survey-related orientation evident in the author’s study of accounts of exploration of Cold War bunkers posted on urban exploration Internet forums. The author’s study suggests that the survey and veneration of place evident in these accounts may be a more significant motivation for urban exploration as practised than psychogeographical revere and/or transgressive incursion into space and place.