MEDIATIZATION OF INFORMAL PRACTICES FOR URBAN SPACE FAMILIARIZATION IN «EXPLORE EVERYTHING» BY BRADLEY GARRETT

Abstract

The review is devoted to «Explore Everything», a monograph by the specialist in cultural geography Bradley Garrett studying the phenomenon of urban exploration. The task was to evaluate Garrett’s concepts in the context of current researches and to analyze critical and academic reviews of the book. Garrett’s monograph is a perfect example of the current urban studies discourse characterized by the combination of academic socio-cultural and ethnographic studies of urban structures and active personal practical involvement. The mass media are very important for understanding and researching urban exploration due to the role they play in communication between explorers and society. The monograph’s key feature is its three-layer structure, consisting of the following layers: academic (results of ethnographic research and their philosophical comprehension), publicist (in the form of a field journal) and visual (visual narrative as a research method). «Explore Everything» refers to many concepts connected with the phenomenon of urban exploration: urban space, ruins, safety, history, experience, etc. The author does not enter into the academic debate, but creates a new, fast-growing research field, which can serve as a base for new researches bridging the gaps between cultural practices and lagging academic studies.