GGR437H1

Geographies of Waste

This seminar course examines how waste is made and how it circulates locally, regionally, and globally. It considers changing conceptions of ‘waste’ and the wider systems that have shaped efforts to manage waste through a selection of historic and contemporary geographies of waste. We will examine waste as a resource (e.g., recycling, composting) and waste avoided (e.g., reuse, repair). Through case studies, we will analyze waste – including urban wastewater – in relation to policy and planning, political economy, forms of labour and infrastructure, and the social norms and values that have shaped people’s relationship to it.