I’m also pretty young and wonder this too, as it definitely seems like it’s nearing the end as places get demolished, leading to people being more weary of who they discuss their locations with. I hope that I end up being wrong though, as I love to urbex

I'm young and part of the new generation of urbex and felt this way about the hobby for quite some time. Seeing how popular Uer was 10+ years ago compared to now really discouraged me. The new generation of urbex is mostly on social media platforms and sadly gets hate (with good reason) because of the few that aren't true to the hobby. While some people don't like it I'm happy to say I post on social media about my explores (I don't include anything that identifies the locations) not for likes or clicks but to find people of my generation to explore with and also to show people that urbex in my city is not completely dead. While the demographic is changing and security is rising, the hobby is far from dying and in my opinion is headed in a general sense upward.

Also to add on, the tides of abandonment ebb and flow with time. As one category fades, the next becomes prominent- asylums faded as dead malls rose to prominence, and as the dead malls faded power plants took their place. Not to mention that some cities enter periods of economic revival while others decline and then the tables turn with time.

It's a cycle. If you've seen everything in a given area, look again because maybe something new cropped up while you coasted off the research you did long ago. If you still can't find anything, broaden your geographical range. Travel to new cities, scour the countryside. Even if all the classic spots get demolished, new spots will always take their place for those who look.

Posted by Aran Also to add on, the tides of abandonment ebb and flow with time. As one category fades, the next becomes prominent- asylums faded as dead malls rose to prominence, and as the dead malls faded power plants took their place. Not to mention that some cities enter periods of economic revival while others decline and then the tables turn with time. It's a cycle. If you've seen everything in a given area, look again because maybe something new cropped up while you coasted off the research you did long ago. If you still can't find anything, broaden your geographical range. Travel to new cities, scour the countryside. Even if all the classic spots get demolished, new spots will always take their place for those who look.

Exactly. When I joined this site, American explorers were lamenting the loss of one Kirkbride after another. That didn't get rid of them though.

The pandemic has certainly breathed new life into this hobby, in that it has killed so many things like businesses, especially in the tourism industry.

Hello,
I created my account nearly 20 years ago and had posted once to pay my respect to Ninjalicious who had just passed away.
Reading this thread I wanted to say something.

I lived in Saint-Malo in the 90's and never got the courage to explore the old WWII German tunnels back then. I regret that now they are all walled up.
During a summer camp in French and English Cornwall in 1995, some of us visited a disaffected hospital. It is certainly not there anymore.
I work 50 meters from an old factory that I explored once a few years ago. It has been demolished now (but my wife and kids got to visit the gallo-roman ruins they uncovered beneath last year).
I also entered the former administrative building of a mine in Brittany, twice, in the 00's. It was boarded up later. I wonder if they did something with it.
I used to think "I'll get into urbex someday" and had the impression of a missed encounter with the hobby. Well, I was into it but didn't realize it at the time. The photographs have most certainly vanished due to old HDDs dying on me. There remained footprints for a bit, which were eventually washed out by rains or erased by wind.

So, maybe old sites are gone. But I'm pretty sure there are many great places to visit still. And I'm looking forward to see some of them.

Oh and urbex influencers? I don't give a rat's ass about them.

Speaking for Ontario: a lot of the big institutional and industrial places dried up 15 years ago. Land is expensive here and we're long past our industrial era, so that was bound to happen eventually.

That said, there are still plenty of smaller spaces (houses, retail plazas) laying vacant due to failed efforts at re-development. This has only gotten more common since interest rates went up. I'd say keep your eyes peeled for the small stuff.