Wicked Problem Of Urban Sustainability

The wicked problem of urban sustainability poses a large challenge for share economy businesses in the present and future. The nature of a wicked problem and its impossibility of being solved is being constantly appropriated by share economy business that are increasingly aware of the need to please as many of their stakeholders as possible. Share economy business such as Uber, Monkey Parking and Airbnb attempt to resolve the need for public transport and purchasing new goods or using existing services, whilst also emphasising the positives and negatives that come from collaborative consumption. The way that such businesses attempt to resolve the overarching wicked problem is by inviting consumers, suppliers, the media, the government, the

law, the general public shareholders and all those who make up the market and nonmarket stakeholder mix to interact with one another within their urban environment, using their product or service. This essay attempts to analyse the interaction of some stakeholders within an urban environment that surround share business economies and comment upon how this relationship further fuels the nature of wicked problems.

Wicked problems (Rittel & Webber 1973) challenge the underlying values and morals of a business owner or company as it is ultimately how they shape their understanding and approach to contribute or present a resolution for the their urban environment.

Urban sustainability, as stated by the World Commision on Environment and Development in 1987 (University of Technology 2013) is the idea that development needs to be sustainable to meet the needs of the current environment but also must not compromise the ability of the future to meet their needs. The stakeholder mix creates a challenging situation that urban sustainability cannot overcome as there is such a large pool of differing values, opinions, morals and preferences that there is “no easy way for people to assign a priority to a way of tackling the issue at hand.” (Troy. P 2013) . This highlights the predicament that share economy businesses, an idea rehashed as a “collaborative consumption” (The Economist 2013) of goods and services, face in the urban setting. Share economy businesses are developed with the intention of tackling a wicked problem, however their success lies in the interaction and critique of a varied mix of opinions that stakeholders

possess.

To contribute positively to the problem of urban sustainability, business companies are developed based on their values and opinions that target and please the needs of their stakeholders in their urban environment.

The taxi-cab hailing company Uber invites drivers and the general public to become their stakeholders as independent contractors to fuel their own business and successfully provide a transport service that (Leib 2014) describes as “so simple and easy”. Uber has identified transportation within the city as a focus of their business model, thus pleasing the needs of everyday people who firstly need to use the App to travel and secondly; those who wish to provide that service. A non-market stakeholder from the media reports that Uber offers “more support and infrastructure services to the people upon whom its business depends”, praising it as a latest example of a company operating in the share economy (Bradshaw 2013). Airbnb, a share economy business company that provides a platform for homeowners to rent out their homes or rooms to accommodate other paying customers had been praised in 2011 by a Wall Street Journalist, as a newest edition to the “billion dollar start-up club” (Fowler, 2007). It’s sustainably developed idea of sharing existing housing, rather than developing new housing, with people all over the world contributes positively to the notion of resolving the wicked problem of urban

sustainability.

The nature of a wicked problem is it’s difficulty it be solved and the stakeholders who are directly driving the business’ needs aren’t the only ones that matter. Infact, share economy businesses, that are concerned with transportation issues affect a vast spread of non-market stakeholders surrounding it; the media, the government, the law, the general public and its competitors. Uber has received great reactions by some of their users however it has also received a lot of negative criticism from their non-market stakeholders. The media is an extremely influential non-market stakeholder as a report from The Economist (2014) on the recent incident of Uber officials’ improper use of other market competitors claims that Uber now “risks a consumer backlash over its tough tactics.” The law and institutions also hold significant influence over the success of Uber’s operations; Erik Gordon, as cited in State News Service (2014), has responded to the recent incidents of a rape of a young executive by a driver with Uber in Delhi, claiming that Uber’s current attitude of not being responsible for the independent contractors is going to “destroy its ability to attract riders.”

Another example of negative non-market media influences is on Monkey Parking, a business focused around sharing existing resources, encourages everyday people to rent out their driveways for other paying customers to park. It had received negative criticism from a media stakeholder. B. Tuttle, of Money Magazine (2014) has criticised this business by claiming it is “not a “sharing” business; rather a form of “unregulated, tech-enabled, supply-and-demand entrepreneurial capitalism”. Similarly, Airbnb has also received another negative response from a non-market stakeholder of the law for it’s business goal to allow pre-existing services to be shared among the urban environment. A claim that Airbnb “violated zoning and other laws” (Miller 2014) from a New York State Attorney General drew negative attention to the business’ sustainable concept of allowing anyone to use their app as a platform for their homes and unused space to be rented out to those who need it.

Every interaction that a business faces creates more and more stakeholders that are inevitably affected by or depend on it’s success- shareholders want their investment to succeed, consumers want great goods or services for the money they pay and the suppliers want their product or service to be in constant demand to make a profit. A wicked problem exists and will continue to exists purely because of the differing opinions surrounding the wicked problem space. The stakeholder mix is more complicated than just a few market stakeholders disagreeing on the good or service. Every person affected directly or indirectly by the wicked problem holds their own values, ideals and morals- all of which can never be prioritised to please all stakeholders. Non-market stakeholders such as the general public, the media influence surrounding and reporting on the business and government influence and policies also pose a constant challenge for businesses to overcome.