"Renovation Nation" asks why we have become so wrapped up in our homes. It explores the ways we are distorting our lives in the pursuit of prestige and tax-free capital gains as we play the real estate game with mindless passion. Fixated on interest rates and surrounded by headlines about housing affordability, we remain determined to make our homes bigger and better. The great Australian dream of owning a home seems to have become the great Australian nightmare. But what about the national home? Is our anxiety about safety and security, about keeping the 'wrong' people out of Australia, or...

Reflecting on waste in the context of sustainability, materiality, social practices, subjectivity, and environmental challenges, the book covers settings from the municipal garbage crisis in Beirut, to food rescue campaigns in Hong Kong, and the toxic by-products of computer chip production in Silicon Valley.