Packaging: function, re-function and malfunction: from consumer society to the homeless material culture

This paper seeks to understand the meaning of packaging in contemporary society. It discusses some technical aspects of packaging as well as its life-cycle, from the consumer society to the homeless material culture. It provides an opportunity to analyse the role of packaging in the material strategies of survival of the homeless. From the preservation of products to the protection of the human body, packaging is in transition at the end of this century, under the impact of globalisation and the increasing poverty of the First and Third Worlds