The design studio “Landfills” focused on the waste infrastructure in the Athens metropolitan area, considering the local, social and cultural particularities of dealing with dirt and refuse. The massive, yet hidden from the public view, waste infrastructure, the small and medium scale informal scavenging, as well as the spaces they occupy and transform, interact to produce a unique “urban backside” on the north-west fringe of the metropolis. In order to develop visions, strategies and design solutions we need to question the social structures and underlying processes that produce and transform it.