SPSF 2023-23: Wicked Problems
Book 2. Mulligan, M. (2018).
An Introduction to Sustainability: Environmental, Social and Personal Perspectives, Routledge https://amzn.to/3wLgMcu
Chap. 4: Global Challenges as wicked problems
The chapter focuses on:
- Understanding the key causes of human-induced global climate change and some of its emerging consequences.
- Broadening our understanding of how we can mitigate climate change impacts while also learning how to adapt to changing climates.
- Considering how we can use the onset of human-induced climate change to rethink unsustainable assumptions, values, and practices.
- Deepening our understanding of what it means to live in entrenched poverty and examine why global poverty elimination stategies have had limited success.
- The need to extend our empathy and responsiblity for the wellbing of all humans and non-human forms of life living on our planet now and the future.
"Wicked problems": The identification of "wicked problems" as ones which defy any "true-or-false" solutions, partly because they are commonly symptoms of other problems, was first advocated by planning theorists Horst Rittel and Melvin Webber (1973).(p.51)
i) no definitive definition of the problem; ii) no true or false solutions, only relatively good or bad responses; iii) seen as symptoms of other interacting problems; iv) unique so there can be no template to follow in responding; v) responses are one-shot efforts cannot be replicated; & vi) responses include many stakeholders with a wide range of values and priorities.
- Global Hunger Index (p.61)
- Human Development Index (p.64)
- Poverty in the "Developed" World (p.65)
- Shifting the Emphasis to Adaptive Capacity (p.66)
Book 1. Thompson & Norris (2021)
Sustainability: What Everyone Needs to Know,, Oxford U Pr. https://amzn.to/3PXc31c
Chap. 8: Sustainability in Science, Education, Religion, and the Arts
Rittel and Webber identified ten characteristics of wicked problems: (p.190)
- Wicked problems have no definitive problem definition.
- There is no way to tell when research on a wicked problem is complete.
- Solutions to wicked problems are not true or false but good or bad.
- One cannot be sure that one is making progress on a wicked problem, or that it has been solved.
- Wicked problems defy attempts to learn by trial and error.
- The number of possible responses to a wicked problem is effectively infinite.
- Every wicked problem is essentially unique.
- Every wicked problem is embedded within other wicked problems.
- Whether the solution of a wicked problem is good or bad depends on the perspective one takes.
- The planner has no right to be wrong.
...When people disagree on what the problem is, it is difficult, if not impossible, to be sure that one is making progress, because the criteria for progress will be in the eye of the beholders...
There is a difference between complex problems and wicked problems. Systems with many components behaving in intricate and difficult to predict ways present extremely challenging problems for scientific researchers... Although this problem has a very high degree of complexity, it is not wicked.
Attempts to ameliorate or manage a wicked problem usually involve risk-taking and impose costs on some parties. Getting involved in a wicked problem will also have an impact on the situation, changing the initial conditions or structure of the problem and preventing a do-over. As such, any attempt to intervene in wicked problems is fraught with ethical responsibilities. Researchers and policymakers must consider which parties are most at risk from attempts to improve the situation and determine the fairest distribution of costs and benefits.
Discussions
- What benefits can come from thinking of big global challenges as "wicked problems" rather than as problems to be resolved?
- What is meant by the term "adaptive capacity"?
