Exquisite Frictions: Reimagining waste practices by embracing and mobilizing local knowledge through design interventions in public space

Waste is one of the most visible urban problems in the Netherlands. In cities like Rotterdam, where it has been identified as the number one urban challenge, waste is often addressed in terms of technological innovations or behavioural campaigns. However, many of these top-down approaches fail as they overlook the cultural, social, and everyday dimensions of waste practices. Waste is not only a material problem but also a reflection of values, habits, and relationships to public space. Frictions emerge when policy visions and technology uses do not resonate with citizen’s urban realities and lived experiences. Rather than smoothing such frictions away, this project treats them as sparks for imagination, learning, and collective action.
Exquisite Frictions focuses on Rotterdam’s Oud-Charlois, a culturally diverse neighbourhood that faces visible waste issues alongside challenges of cohesion and neglected infrastructure. While cultural diversity can be perceived as a governance challenge, it can also be a resource for alternative ways of imagining transitions and pathways to achieve them. Drawing inspiration from the Surrealist exquisite corpse technique, this project will creatively assemble different types of knowledge and experiences into creative ideas for tackling waste and fostering circular practices.
Through a one-year exploratory process, the project partners will map and situate waste-related frictions in public space, use design and artistic approaches to translate them into materials for civic engagement and collective creativity, and reflect on how they connect back to policy and institutional learning. Activities include guided “trash walks”, co-mapping sessions, and the co-creation of a public installation that brings frictions into public space. The expected outcomes are an interactive installation, a methodological framework, and a policy/education toolkit. These will feed into municipal practice and education, while offering transferable insights for other Rotterdam neighborhoods and Dutch cities seeking to accelerate circularity transitions through place-based interventions.