Research and the Ethics of Urban Exploration and Criminal Trespass

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Abstract
Bradley Garrett, an urban ethnographer, took part in exploration of British urban space that involved trespass onto land owned by the public transport authority. Garrett argued that it was ‘deeply problematic’ to block research on people simply because they lived close to ‘legal boundaries’. He also argued that participant observation with such groups might entail breaking the law. In 2012, Garrett and eight participants were arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit criminal damage and the prosecution based its case on research notes seized from Garrett. The case ended with Garrett receiving a conditional discharge. This chapter uses this ‘urban explorer’ case study to explore the justifications that might exist for undertaking covert research, for researchers breaking the law or for doing harm to participants and other interested parties, the ethics of autoethnography, the dangers of romanticising the subject of research, and the difficulties of negotiating multiple roles as researcher, urban explorer, political activist, journalist and filmmaker.

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