'Dumping is the illegal or improper disposal of any item including household waste, hazardous waste and municipal waste like construction and demolition debris.’ While dumping occurs many places in the Bay Area on a daily basis, some communities feel the effects more seriously.

Wildcat Hauling is an on-going project by FICTILIS that brings together community and conversation around public dumping and waste infrastructure in West Oakland. The core of the project involves recruiting a coalition of private junk haulers and scrappers for coordinated pickups of West Oakland dumping sites. Alongside this dumping remediation, Fictilis engages in several forms of documentation and outreach intended to contextualize the issue within larger frameworks of economic and environmental justice, public health, and inequity of income and disposal access.

Enclosed by 3 major freeways, West Oakland is a mixed residential and industrial district comprised of many distinct neighborhoods. The concentration of dumping in the area is widely recognized as a serious issue, and policymakers have struggled to address it appropriately. Individuals, community organizations, government agencies, corporations, and educational institutions all recognize the need for intervention.

On this walk, our 10-mile route combs through West Oakland to form a collective account of public dumping’s impact on the communities and the psychogeography of the district. We will be attentive of the urban landscape and discuss the elements and entities at play in this complex topic.

Our walk will begin and terminate at the West Oakland Bart Station. We’ll gather outside at 11am Sunday, December 20, 2015 and begin promptly. Bring sturdy walking shoes, sun protection, plenty of water and any content you’d like to discuss or share! Any photography must follow this simple rule of Wildcat Hauling: every instance of damage or decay you document, you must take action to remediate. (Please download the City's smartphone reporting app SeeClickFix ahead of time.)