Wicked Problems Definition: What Are Wicked Problems?

Wicked problems are dilemmas without a transparent solution methodology. Wicked problems can apply to social science, public policy, urban planning, and design theory. Such social issues are complex for activists and problem-solvers at the municipal and federal levels to address because they consist of contradictory or evolving elements. Wicked problems are problems worth solving and often require collaborative energy, but potential solutions might open the door to new problems.

Climate change is one major twenty-first-century wicked problem. Moving away from fossil fuels is a potential solution. Still, without the infrastructure to enact that change and knowledge about how it would affect mining workers in poorer communities, such a switch presents new problems. It necessitates creative design thinking and intense social planning.

In the 1960s, German design thinker Horst Rittel first used the phrase “wicked problems” in a seminar at the University of California’s architecture department to contrast tame problems with clear-cut and accomplishable solutions. In 1967, American theorist C. West Churchman penned an editorial in Management Science, questioning the moral obligation of taming wicked problems.

Rittel and American urban designer Melvin M. Webber further popularized the concept with the 1973 Policy Sciences article “Dilemmas in a General Theory of Planning.”
The adjective “wicked” in “wicked problems” refers to the resistance to resolution instead of something malicious. Some scientists and design theorists refer to wicked problems as “social messes.”

Examples of wicked problems include:

• Global warming: A significant consideration in today’s social policies are the impacts of climate change, including global warming. As politicians look to adaptive solutions and sustainability as a way forward, each new day brings new data and increasingly complex, unique problems.
• Health care: Another example of a wicked problem is health care because of the number of questions it raises and its interdependence on nutrition, wellness, aging, air quality, and myriad other issues. One such challenging issue in health care is the matter of assisted suicide.
• Homelessness: The issue of homelessness is a wicked problem because of its tethers to capitalism, which, in a free market, gives unhoused people little power over those who can control housing prices.

Wicked problems might exhibit some of the following characteristics.

1. 1. Wicked problems are symptomatic of other issues. A wicked problem is generally a symptom of another problem. Wicked problems consist of real-world issues and interrelate with other socioeconomic ones. For example, global climate change connects to homelessness—rising seas, for example, might displace people from their homes.
2. 2. Wicked problems consist of facts but not true-or-false solutions. There are no true-or-false solutions to wicked issues but rather better and worse ones according to the problem solvers’ criteria.
3. 3. Wicked problems do not resolve with trial and error. In design problems, trial and error are vital to moving toward solutions. In wicked problems, each trial accounts for so much it is more akin to a one-shot operation, unlike situations in which a less complex problem can endure frequent little experiments.
4. 4. Wicked problems lack a stopping rule. In case studies, the stopping rule tells stakeholders when to stop or continue the trial run of a prototype based on past events and data. Wicked problems lack this foundational element of the scientific experiment, meaning the issues continue on and on, muddying decision-making.

Researchers have long studied how to approach wicked problems because of their inherent difficulties. In 2001, Nancy C. Roberts, researcher and professor emerita at the Naval Postgraduate School, posed three approaches as ways forward:

1. 1. Be authoritative. This approach puts the handling of wicked problems in the hands of a select few under the understanding that decreasing the number of stakeholders reduces the complexity.
2. 2. Be collaborative. Collaborative solutions engage all stakeholders to combine their best ideas during the problem-solving stage.
3. 3. Be competitive. A competitive solution pits companies against one another to quickly work toward viable solutions.

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