As I worked further on concept ideas, I had the chance to get back to the people I have engaged with in my research studies and share with them the concepts. Participants were broadly supportive of the path my research was taking. Furthermore, through ongoing conversations with practitioners both in academia and the industry, I had the opportunity to refine the way in which I described my work. What I found was the need to be very specific while keeping concise. I decided to avoid acknowledging broadly the extent in which the mainstream narrative about smart cities is contradictory and lacking in social agency. Instead, I am focusing on how much the absence of a deeper discussion on the reuse of discarded materials embodies those very contradictions in a significant manner. There are issues of governance and power, policy and decision-making, and the need for technology, that I could raise if I were researching public transport, lighting or surveillance just the same. But I expect to touch all those matters while directing my attention to waste prevention in smart cities through social practices of repair and reuse. This is the slice guiding my research in the coming phases.