Format/Structure

This collaborative workshop explores the intertwined roles of water and plastics in shaping urban and planetary environments. Participants share methods and observations to study hydro-plastic entanglements across scales, co-developing approaches to make these relations visible and legible.

Long Abstract

Few other materials shape our contemporary planetary conditions and urban worlds as much as water and plastic. One is the literal stuff of life, with a simple molecular structure. The other is a wide range of long polymer structures of different origins, malleable and adaptable to countless human ideas and needs. Waters and plastic have therefore been the subject of extensive debate regarding their socio-ecological importance and consequences, given their status as major factors in human health, environmental conditions and urban political ecologies. In our collaborative and exploratory workshop at POLLEN 2026, we will build on the epistemological and analytical value of waters and plastics, but discussing them together. We invite participants to share their perspectives and methodological ideas on researching and thinking through hydro-plastic entanglements in various research contexts and/or their own everyday experiences. Together, we discuss and explore how we can study the interplay between waters and plastics in our urban environments and the role they play in the cycles of material and social reproduction. We ask what these interplays tell us about place-specific political ecologies, including the respective spaces, economies, and techno-natural arrangements. And we hope to ideate on methodological techniques and tactics that we can we deploy to make all of this legible and accessible. While we as organizers are largely inspired by the presence of various plastics in the waterscapes of African cities (e.g. plastic containers, PVC pipes, and water sachets), our invitations are extended to anyone interested in water and plastics at various scales, from microplastics to the body, to the city and to the planet. In preparation for the workshop, we ask you to collect some data on hydro-plastic entanglements – or draw from your existing data archives. This can take any form or scope that you are able to commit to.