16 articles tagged with urban exploration
After years exploring abandoned monasteries in Eastern Europe and forgotten temples in Southeast Asia, I've developed a nose for the overlooked. When I relocated to Memphis three years ago, I started applying my urban exploration skills closer to home. Portland...
Most people speed past Brockton on their way to Cape Cod, but they're missing one of Massachusetts' most authentic urban stories. As someone who's spent years studying how built environments shape communities, I've found that the most compelling cities are...
Sometimes the most profound discoveries happen in places you never planned to visit. Fernley, Nevada—a desert town thirty miles east of Reno—isn't on most travel bucket lists. But that's exactly why I found myself drawn here last October. After months...
Most Pacific Northwest travelers bypass Tacoma for Seattle, but that oversight reveals their lack of understanding about authentic urban character. As a city planner who has studied urban fabric across four continents, I find Tacoma's transformation from industrial port to...
Look, I get it—College Park isn't exactly the first place that comes to mind when you think cultural immersion. Most people see it as just another college town orbiting DC. But here's what I've learned from years of seeking out...
As a pediatrician, I'm trained to assess risk versus reward—a skill that translates surprisingly well to urban exploration. When I first heard about Wheeling, West Virginia's abandoned industrial landscape, I knew it would be the perfect weekend challenge for my...
Standing at the intersection of Avenida Balboa, watching the sunset paint both 17th-century church facades and glass-wrapped towers in the same golden light, I understood why Panama City captivates. This is a city that refuses to choose between its past...
Berlin surprised me. As someone who spends most weekends chasing trails through desert canyons, I expected the urban density to feel suffocating. Instead, I found a city that approaches art with the same raw, unfiltered energy I associate with backcountry...
Most Americans speed past Spokane on their way to Seattle or Portland, dismissing it as just another mid-sized Northwestern city. That's precisely what makes it brilliant for urban exploration. After three years living in Memphis, I've developed a keen eye...
Worcester doesn't make many travel bucket lists, and that's exactly why I love it. During a medical conference in Boston last spring, I took a detour to Massachusetts' second-largest city and discovered something remarkable: a genuine American industrial city in...
Right, I'll admit it—when I first told my mates back in Belfast I was heading to Gary, Indiana for a weekend photography trip, they looked at me like I'd lost the plot. But here's the thing: some of the most...
As a wildlife biologist who has spent decades studying urban ecosystems, I have learned that some of the most fascinating discoveries occur not in remote wilderness, but in the overlooked spaces between major metropolitan centers. New Rochelle, a modest city...
The terracotta-hued bricks of Toulouse glow with an almost otherworldly warmth in the spring light, their distinctive pink tone created by centuries of iron oxide weathering—a chemical process that transforms simple clay into the city's signature palette. While most visitors...
¡Hola, viajeros! There's something magical about cities that wear their creativity on their sleeve, and Eugene, Oregon is one such hidden canvas that captured my heart during an unexpected detour last spring. What started as a quick stopover on my...
The morning sun filters through the jeepney windows as we navigate Manila's bustling streets, a symphony of horns and voices creating the soundtrack to this vibrant metropolis. *Incroyable!* While most visitors stick to the Spanish colonial walls of Intramuros, the...
