arcam

Spaces of waste are an integral part of our way of life and have informed and will continue to inform the growth of the city of Amsterdam and its landscape albeit in the shadows.

From the underground containers and nondescript big box architecture of monumental scale for incinerators and recycling facilities to the covering of historical landfills with recreational parks. All are focused on spatial practices of camouflage, hiding and denial. But when closely examined become revealing spatial products of a society focused on expansion, exclusion and extraction, with market logics further complicating matters.

Hiding the so-called externalities of our consumerism prevents us from understanding their long term impact on ecologies and future generations. Even more so, it impedes concrete discussions on how to make changes. Conversations on circularity, closing loops and a wasteless 2050 stay abstract if they don’t have ties to the physical city. Designing a new circular city will require designers to acknowledge their role beyond selecting more sustainable materials and study the architecture and impacts of the current spatial waste systems and its heritage.

With our research we want to create a speculative city guide into the city waste system for both professionals and the general public. A guide of hidden waste spaces to walk, cycle and explore, aimed at creating public awareness and reflection on how we live between and on top of our waste and for professional designers to question how and where they can contribute with design thinking in transforming wastescapes.