Under many of our big cities is another city.
A place of tunnels and sewers and open spaces.
Steve Duncan studies and photographs these places. If I am the Roadologist, Steve is the Sewerologist. In fact he calls his postgraduate studies work “sewerology.” It’s the sort of idea that can change your city experience. If you are in Paris or Rome you know there are catacombs as you ride around, but if you are in a cab in New York all you think about is survival (well, a Rome cab will do that too) but knowing there is a world beneath the wheels can make you see the city a little differently.
These underground worlds can introduce you to the history of major cities. They are also in many cases pristine examples of the design and build best practices of a bygone era. Duncan calls himself an urban explorer, and you can see why — open a manhole and descend and you are exploring your city in a different dimension.
Check out Steve Duncan’s work and also read this story about Steve.
P.S. Not sure, but isn’t that a shadowy Ed Norton in the background in one of those NYC photos?
