
Systems of Waste and Wasting
The Center for Critical Discard Research leads interdisciplinary research grounded in the liberal arts and sciences on systems of waste and wasting that inform the practices of design, production, distribution, and disposal taught across Pratt Institute.
- Designers, architects, and artists cognizant of the consequences of their work contributing to waste streams across the world are potentially powerful agents of change.
- Emerging out of the interdisciplinary approach of the Sustainability Studies Minor and inspired by key works in Discard Studies, the Center advances research projects that link the systems of production taught across the Institute to the practices, infrastructures, and consequences of disposal in the modern world.
- For more information on the Center, contact Director Carl Zimring.
Carl A. Zimring, “A Circular Economy? Aluminum Recycling in Historical Perspective,” Cahiers d’histoire de l’aluminium/Journal for the History of Aluminium 69-70 (December 2022-June 2023), pp. 132-145.
Kumru Toktamis, “Laissez-Passer Laissez-Mourir: Earthquake 2023 and Capitalism that Discards and Disassociates Citizens in Erdogan’s Turkey.” In Nikos Christofis (ed.), Elections and Earthquakes: Quo Vadis Turkey? London: Transnational Press, 2024, pp. 157-170.
Iris Borowy, Viktor Pál, and Carl A. Zimring, “Introduction: The Waste of Conflict. The Conflicts of Waste,” Journal of Contemporary History 59, No. 2 (March 2024), pp. 223-233.
Philip Hayward and May Joseph, eds. Aquapelagos: Integrated Terrestrial and Marine Assemblages. London: Routledge, 2025.
Carl A. Zimring, “Dirty Work Reconsidered: On the Historical Dynamics of Work, Whiteness, and Waste in Industrial Society.” In Mary E. Mendoza and Traci Brynne Voyles (eds.), Not Just Green, Not Just White: Race, Justice, and Environmental History. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2025, pp. 71-100.
Carl A. Zimring, “Arts and Recreation as Environmental Activism: Reimagining Brooklyn’s Newtown Creek and Gowanus Canal in the 21st Century.” In Philip Hayward (ed.), Blue-Green Rehabilitation: Tourism and Leisure in River Cities. Egham, UK: CABI, 2025, pp. 42-59.
The Center has organized several campus presentations, including a Spring 2023 conference at the Alumni Reading Room, a Spring 2024 lecture series, and events associated with Pratt’s Earth Action Week, Pratt’s Research Open House, Climate Week NYC, and Pratt’s Center for Climate Adaptation.
Center for Critical Discard Research Conference
March 29, 2023
Alumni Reading Room, Pratt Library, Brooklyn Campus
10am
Opening Remarks: Carl A. Zimring, “Introducing Critical Discard Research at Pratt”
10:30-11:50am
Uzma Z. Rizvi, Mahnoor Fatima, & Itzamna Huerta, “A Critique of Excavation: A Discard Studies Approach to Archaeological Practice”
Daniel Boscov-Ellen, “Après Moi Le Déluge: Capitalism and Intergenerational Climate Ethics”
Kumru Toktamis “Laissez-Passer Laissez-Mourir: Earthquake as Discard”
Martin Dege, “Human Waste and Wasted Humans: The Return of Subhumanism”
1pm-2:20pm
Nurhaizatul Jamil, “Modest Fashion, Islamic Eco-Ethics, Multi-species Relationality”
Ann Holder, “’We Are All the Same, No Color Now:’ From Practical Emancipation to Radical Democracy”
May Joseph, “Malabar Sink: Perceptions of the South Asian Coast as Archaeologies of Discard”
Paul Dambowic, “How Discarded Material is Recycled in the Cultural Heritage of North Africa”
2:30-3:50pm
Clarence Jefferson Hall Jr., “Recovering the History of Imprisoned Labor in the Adirondack Park, One Discarded Photo at a Time”
Cisco Bradley, “The Rise of Black Creative Music in Spaces of Creation and Discard”
Darini Nicholas, “New Jersey’s Greenway: An Outdoor Recreation and Transportation Corridor for the Community or Another Neoliberal Waterfront Development?”
2024 Lecture Series
Samantha MacBride, “Assessing Curbside Compost (Organics) Collection in Queens, NY. A Guide to Wise Use of Waste Metrics.” Lecture Series, February 19, 2024.
sTo Len, “Out of the Art Studio and into the Waste Stream: Landfills, CSOs, and the NY Department of Sanitation.” Lecture Series, March 14, 2024.
Kara Murphy Schlichting, “Hot Town: The Origins of New York City’s Urban Heat Island, 1860-1940.” Lecture Series, March 25, 2024.
Lilly Baum Pollans, “Resisting Garbage: The Politics of Waste Management in American Cities.” Lecture Series, April 8, 2024.
Research Open House Presentations
Carl A. Zimring,“The Limits of the Circular Economy: Aluminum Recycling and Mass Production, 1973-Present.” Research Open House, Brooklyn, New York, March, 2024.
Caitlin Cahill, “‘Like so many hands tearing open a net’: Shaping change in Salt Lake City.” Research Open House, Brooklyn, New York, April, 2025.
Carl A. Zimring, “Arts and Recreation as Environmental Activism: Reimagining Brooklyn’s Newtown Creek and Gowanus Canal in the 21st Century.” Research Open House, Brooklyn, New York, April, 2025.
Pratt Earth Action Week Events
The Fourth Kingdom: The Kingdom of Plastics film screening and discussion moderated by Carl A. Zimring for Pratt Earth Action Week, Brooklyn, New York, November, 2024.
Dan Boscov-Ellen, Caitlin Cahill, and Carl A. Zimring,“New Works from the Center for Critical Discard Research.” Panel discussion for Pratt Earth Action Week, Brooklyn, New York, March, 2025.
New York Climate Exchange Events
Carl A. Zimring, “Coastal Metropolis: Environmental Histories of Modern New York City.” Center for Climate Adaptation event, Governors Island, New York, July, 2024.
May Joseph and Carl A. Zimring “Adaptation(s) Walking Tour.” New York Climate Week / Center for Climate Adaptation event, Governors Island, September, 2024.
Carl A. Zimring, “Adaptation(s) 2.0 Walking Tour.” Center for Climate Adaptation event, Governors Island, October, 2024.
Carl A. Zimring, “Coastal Metropolis: Environmental Histories of Modern New York City.” Center for Climate Adaptation event, Research Yard, Brooklyn, New York, July, 2025.
Carl A. Zimring, “A Circular Economy? Aluminum Recycling in Historical Perspective.” World Economic History Congress, Paris, France, July, 2022.
Carl A. Zimring and Steven H. Corey, “Wastescapes and the Building of Modern New York City: A Discard Studies Approach to Urban History.” Discard Studies conference, New York University, New York, New York, September, 2022.
Laura-Anne Minkoff-Zern, Bettina Stoetzer, and Carl A. Zimring, “Migrants, Environmental Knowledge, and Consumer Society.” Closing roundtable discussion at German Historical Institute, Berkeley, California, September, 2023.
Carl A. Zimring, “Bordering Boroughs: A Discard Studies Approach to New York City’s Newtown Creek and The Hole.” Urban History Association conference, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, October, 2023.
Rebecca Bauman, Christine Cooke, Roger Horowitz, April F. Masten, Kyunghee Pyun, and Carl A. Zimring, “How to Address the Business History of Working-Class People.” Roundtable discussion at the American Historical Association conference, San Francisco, California, January, 2024.
Lily Baum Pollans, Jessica Varner, and Carl A. Zimring, “Plastics Pasts, Plastics Futures: How Polymers Shape Us & How We Shape Them.” American Society for Environmental History conference, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, April, 2025.