...well, that depends on your point of view, like everything else. Here's a "Dangerous Idea" care of the 2014 Sydney Festival of Dangerous Ideas (FoDI). Should we reclaim, rediscover, re-imagine urban spaces that are forgotten, forbidden, off-limits?
Here's part of the summary of Bradley Garrett's upcoming talk at FoDI
[our] culture of safety brings limitations and fears that have the capacity to turn us into passive spectators in our own lives, especially in cities where high land values create dense areas of exclusion. Yet there is always a city within the city to explore.
Underground and in the sky, the secret arteries of infrastructure and the forbidden heights of buildings are open to urban explorers who want to reclaim lost history and their right to roam the urban wilds. Bradley Garrett argues that rather than accepting the pre-packaged, safe, passively consumed entertainment on offer, we must make our own adventures by embracing the unsafe city as our playground.
And to those of you tut-tut-ing at these trespassers, they like to think of themselves rather as "place hackers" with their own ethical code... no vandalism or theft, take only photographs, leave only footprints. But I guess we will still have to pay for rescue and health costs if these cheeky monkeys come to grief?
Whichever way you think of them, there's no denying they create to some wonderful pictures...
Do you have a dangerous idea?