Dealing with Wicked Problems

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Dealing with Wicked problems

Finding solutions

A problem can be defined as subject of concern between what is desired and what an actual situation is there, which makes it difficult to achieve a desired goal, purpose. A solution of a problem is an act performed in order to reduce the effects of the current situation and which gives direction to accomplish the goal or objective.

Planning is a way to respond to the changes occurring in the environment around a person systematically. Planning is an approach towards the problem solving rationally. It can be taken as a remedial tool for creating change in the current situation in systematic and efficient way.

A problem in a planning profession will be

The solution found by planners to varied situations in practice very dependent on the certain criteria like social, economic, environmental, and political. The evaluation of a solution on these criteria defines the success of a solution.

The new definition of the planning problems was given by Rittle and Webber in their path breaking article (Dilemmas in a General Theory of Planning) 1973 article they declared that the ways for solving problems by linear method for problem solving are over and this is the effect of the change in the modern society and increasing social complexities which makes them difficult to define the problems and also that the dependency is based on political reasoning. [1]

According to the complexities involved in the problem, and methodologies used for solving the problems, planning problems can be categorized into three categories, Tame problems, Wicked problems and Super wicked problems.

The Tame problems are the ones which have a well defined problem statement and the rational approa...

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...enhead (1996), of the London School of Economics

4. Wicked Problems in Design Thinking Author(s): Richard Buchanan Source: Design Issues, Vol. 8, No. 2 (Spring, 1992), pp. 5-21 Published by: The MIT Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/

5. www.wikipedia.com

6. Wicked Problems Structuring Social Messes with Morphological Analysis ©Tom Ritchey 2005-2008 Swedish Morphological Society (Downloaded from: www.swemorph.com)

7. Rittel, Horst (1972) “On the Planning Crisis: Systems Analysis of the ’First and Second Generations’,” Bedriftsøkonomen, Nr. 8.

8. Rittel, Horst and Melvin Webber (1973) “Dilemmas in a General Theory of Planning,” Policy Sciences 4, Elsevier Scientific Publishing, Amsterdam,

9. Conklin, J. (2001). “Wicked Problems and Social Complexity.” CogNexus Institute. [Online]. Available from the World Wide Web: http://cognexus.org/wpf/wickedproblems.pdf

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