1234 | 317 | When the Problem is not the Problem: Features of Wicked Solutions

This paper proposes a perspectival shift in our current thinking on so-called “wicked problems”. The original notion emerged as a way to optimize decision-making in design processes and became widely adopted in architectural design. More recent work on “super wicked problems” has considered the role of time pressure and the causal role of the agents solving the problems. This work provided a much-needed update and extension of the existing theory. However, despite these modifications, the discourse focusing on the “wickedness” of problems unwittingly replicates thinking methods of the past. In turn, this traps our contemporary approach towards climate change, sustainable development and efficacious production methods in a vicious spiral, as the frame of thinking required to address these issues must depart from a different perspective. _x000D_
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This paper considers therefore a different aspect of the issue. It’s not merely that our problems are somehow wicked or ill-structured, but this feature applies increasingly and structurally to the solutions we propose. The directions that we choose in developing solutions replicate many of the structural features of wicked problems, leading to solutions that are not just ineffective, but actively harmful. This paper provides therefore an overview of the features of “wicked solutions”, provides examples from (architectural) practice, shows how they hamper the search for an inhabitable environment, and argues that many solutions aimed at addressing ecosystem preservation, effective use of resources, climate adaptation, and sustainable development are becoming problems themselves. This feature should cause a reimagining of our current problem-solution based thinking, thereby moving beyond theoretical limitations that have been inherited from the past._x000D_

Otto Paans
Independent entrepreneur

ID Abstract: 317