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Wicked Problems Framework: Architectural Lessons from Recent Urban Disasters

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Disaster Management: Enabling Resilience

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Social Networks ((LNSN))

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Abstract

This chapter extends the design framework of Horst Rittel (1930–1990), who argued that complex societal problems that cannot be addressed using linear systematic processes, namely, ‘tame’ problems, may need alternative approaches, since they are ‘wicked’ in nature. Urban issues such as informal settlements, poverty, and overcrowding, are merely the physical symptoms of deep systemic issues beyond the control of planners and architects alone, and hence, are ‘wicked’. Rittel, a thought leader of design thinking, coined the expression “Wicked Problems” in 1973 to describe the complex issues of society situated in the real world that cannot be solved using rationality alone. In fact, such issues need transdisciplinary understanding and action to optimise decision-making based on multiple viewpoints and methods of inquiry.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Urban and Regional Development, College of Environmental Design, University of California Berkeley, CA, USA

    Alexandra JaYeun Lee

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  1. Alexandra JaYeun Lee
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Correspondence to Alexandra JaYeun Lee .

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  1. Centre for Security Science, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

    Anthony Masys

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Lee, A.J. (2015). Wicked Problems Framework: Architectural Lessons from Recent Urban Disasters. In: Masys, A. (eds) Disaster Management: Enabling Resilience. Lecture Notes in Social Networks. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08819-8_6

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