Material Reuse for Whom?

In addition to its popularly touted environmental virtues, material reuse involves a host of social, political, and cultural concerns. As architects and designers increasingly consider principles of the circular economy in pursuit of a decarbonized future, the benefits and burdens of material reuse must be prioritized. Drawing on critical scholarship on the circular economy, waste studies, and urban mining, I argue that material reuse must attend to the spillover effects of its application and consider the manifold benefits and burdens that accrue in the process. The research is guided by several questions. Who gains from practices of material reuse in architecture and design? Who loses out in the process? How can material reuse support an equitable distribution of benefits and burdens? This paper challenges the prevailing value propositions offered by deconstruction and material reuse to be more creatively expansive and more socially inclusive. The paper begins with a review of relevant literature, followed by a proposal to intervene in the policy making process. To illustrate the potential impacts of the proposed policy, the paper concludes with a brief description of a graduate course that asked students to envision design possibilities through an expanded scope for deconstruction and material reuse.