SAVE THE DATE:
October 26th & 27th, 2013
Wicked Problems in Socio-Ecological Systems
Symposium & Workshop
It has been 40 years since Berkeley Professors Horst Rittel and Melvin Webber
articulated the concept of "wicked problems," problems that are challenging because
they are ill-defined, complex and constantly changing. In their seminal article in Policy
Sciences, they argued that the profusion of wicked problems throughout social policy
domains such as urban design and city planning posed dilemmas for the scientific
approach to problem solving, which was developed to deal with "tame" problems.
The notion of wicked problems is still widely embraced by designers and policy makers
working on issues ranging from climate change to health care reform. Yet this
formulation, rooted in modernism and emphasizing positivist science and technology,
has been subsequently challenged by alternative epistemological approaches such as
Marxism, feminism, and post-structuralism.
The Wicked Problem SYMPOSIUM will critically interrogate the history and evolution
of Rittel and Webber's idea of the "wicked problem," and appraise the utility of wicked
problem thinking in the light of contemporary issues of significance to society from a
broad and interdisciplinary perspective. The related WORKSHOP on the following day
will address the more specific topic of Rittel and Webber’s work as it pertains to the
issues of urban and regional sustainability, and will feature talks that will later be
featured as papers in an accompanying issue of the journal Landscape and Urban
Planning (LAND). The extended conference is jointly organized by the College of
Environmental Design (CED) at the University of California, Berkeley, the Global
Institute for Urban and Regional Sustainability (GIURS) at the East China Normal
University, Shanghai, and LAND.
SCHEDULE
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 26 - SYMPOSIUM
Events will take place Wurster 112, unless otherwise noted.
9:00 - 9:30
REGISTRATION AND COFFEE
9:30 - 9:45
Welcome & Opening Remarks (Jennifer Wolch, CED &
Wei-Ning Xiang, GIURS/LAND)
9:45 - 10:15
Remembering Rittel and Webber (JP Protzen CED & Michael
10:30 - 11:45
The History of Wicked Problems (JP Protzen CED,
Teitz, CED)
Moderator)
Michael Batty, UCL
Barry Katz, IDEO/CCA
Alice Agogino, UC Berkeley
Hugh Dubberly, Dubberly Design
Panel discussion/questions
11:45 - 1:00
LUNCH
1:00 - 2:15
Theoretical Critiques of Wicked Problems (Ananya Roy,
Moderator)
Avigail Sachs, University of Tennessee
Niraj Verma, Virginia Commonwealth University
Eric Paulos, UC Berkeley
Panel discussion/questions
2:15 - 2:45
SNACK
2:45 - 4:00
Wicked Problems Today (Wendy Ju, CED, Moderator)
Björn Hartmann, UC Berkeley
Terry Winograd, Stanford
Kim Erwin, Institute of Design at IIT
Panel discussion/questions
4:00 - 5:15
Wicked Problems in Planning, Ecology and
Environmental Ethics (Judith Innes, CED, Moderator)
Judith Innes, CED
Bryan Norton, Georgia Tech
Brian Head, University of Queensland, Australia
Panel discussion/questions
5:15 - 6:00
CLOSING RECEPTION
For more information about the symposium, call (510) 642-0831 or email CEDdean@berkeley.edu.
8:00 - 10:00
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 27 - WORKSHOP
Paper presentations: The adaptive, participatory, and transdisciplinary
(APT) approach to working with wicked problems: empirical
studies and theoretical explorations
Wicked games of urban planning: how deliberative practices can
help us create a collaborative playing field? Harri Raisio, Juha
Lindell, Niklas Lundstrom, Pirkko Vartiainen, University of Vaasa,
Finland
Design experiments - a method for working with wicked problems,
Torben Dam, Ole Fryd, Jan Støvring, and Antje Backhaus,
University of Melbourne, Australia
Precedents and wicked problems, Ole Fryd and Liao Kuei-Hsien,
University of Melbourne, Australia; National University of Singapore,
Singapore
A social-ecological approach to assessing linkages between
ecosystem services, livelihoods, and environmental governance in
the Kagera Basin in Eastern Rwanda, Ahmed Khan, Hongmei Li,
Linxiu Zhang, Xiubo Yu, Erasme Mbanzamihigo, Gisele
Umuhumuza, Thierry Nhoza, United Nations Environment ProgramInternational Ecosystem Management Partnership, Beijing, China;
Rwanda Environment Management Authority, Rwanda Natural
Resources AuthoritKigali, Rwanda
Conceptualizing creative adaptation to rural shrinkage, Anne
Tietjen and Gertrud Jørgensen, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Eco Area Ratio (EAR) as a wicked problem: An ecological planning
tool to “tame” the problem of urban densification in the case of
Taipei, Perry P. J. Yang, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA
10:00 - 12:00
Paper presentations: The adaptive, participatory, and transdisciplinary
(APT) approach to working with wicked problems: urban and
regional sustainability
Managing wicked natural resource problems: The collaborative
challenge at regional scales, Brian Head, The University of
Queensland, Australia
An inclusive planning research on avoiding NIMBY risks of urban
facilities at all stages basing on game relationship of multiple
interests groups—A case study of public participation in urban
regeneration of Diantou Historical District, Changting, Fujian,
Xiang Zhang;Jian-gang Xu; Yang Ju; Fei Zhang, Nanjing University,
China
Operationalizing wicked problem solving to create desirable
futures: the design agenda, Gavin Melles, Mattias Arvola, Stefan
Holmlid, Swinburne University, Australia; Linköping University,
Sweden
The wicked nature of environmental and social distress in the Niger
delta: informing public discourse with political ecology, Charisma
Acey, University of California, Berkeley, USA
12:00 - 1:00
LUNCH
1:00 - 2:45
Paper presentations: Exploring wickedness through the lens of
epistemological, methodological, and ethical significance:
Awareness, acceptance, and adaptation
New tools for deep-rooted problems: Using Complex Systems to
decode wicked Problems, Moira Zellner and Scott D. Campbell,
University of Illinois at Chicago, USA; University of Michigan, USA
Doubling down: The wicked problem of forming transdisciplinary
teams to address wicked problems in socio- ecological systems,
Patricia E. Norris, Michael O’Rourke, Alex S. Mayer, Kathleen E.
Halvorsen, Michigan State University, USA; Michigan Technological
University, USA
The nested, wicked air- conditioning solution, Larissa Larsen, Nick
Rajkovich, Marie O’Neill, Carina Gronlund, University of Michigan,
USA
Meta-decision modeling of wicked landscape design problems:
Resolving conservation versus development value conflicts in
Tanzanian, Vietnamese and Peruvian socio-ecological systems, Asim
Zia, University of Vermont, USA
For more information about the workshop, please contact Ms Ying Chen at ychen@des.ecnu.edu.cn.
Artwork courtesy of Patrick Hoesly under the Creative Commons Attribution license.
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 27 - WORKSHOP
Wickedness and regulation: A case study of off-highway vehicle use,
Brian Muller, University of Colorado, Boulder, USA
Mapping out of “the messes”: Public participatory mapping and cumulative
environmental health impacts assessment, Ganlin Huang and Jonathan K.
London, Beijing Normal University, China; UC Davis Center for Regional
Change, CA
3:00 - 5:00
GROUP DISCUSSIONS AND WRAP-UP
For more information about the workshop, please contact Ms Ying Chen at ychen@des.ecnu.edu.cn.
Artwork courtesy of Patrick Hoesly under the Creative Commons Attribution license.