Journal on Policy and Complex Systems
( 1 ) Introduction
Rittel and Webber ( 1973 ) mentioned problems of long-term planning and management as examples of wicked problems , and contrasted these with the “ benign ” or “ tame ” problems of mathematics and science . Benign problems have a unique , determinate solution . One knows when a benign problem is solved . Wicked problems , on the other hand , have no determinate solution ; even the correct formulation of the problem is contested , and there is no “ stopping rule .”
Rittel and Webber hypothesize that wicked problems have no definitive solution — and no agreed-upon formulation — because disagreements involve multiple competing interests . For wicked problems , we cannot expect “ optimal ” and final solutions ; rather , we can only expect a negotiated and balanced outcome , a resolution , that will be acceptable for a time , but always open to re-negotiation as the context and power relations change in society . The question remains : how should or can environmental planners understand and model wicked environmental policy design problems ?
While Rittel and Webber laid out 10 defining characteristics of wicked planning problems , they left the methods of their resolution as open questions for future research . Most of the follow-up research in response to Rittel and Webber ( 1973 ) is seen in very diverse disciplines ranging from computer science ( DeGrace & Stahl , 1990 ) to psychology ( Conklin , 2005 ). In follow up to Rittel and Webber ’ s seminal work , the theorists of adaptive management ( Norton , 2005 ; Norton & Steinemann , 2001 ) and regional planning ( Andrews , 2002 ; Innes & Booher , 1999 , 2010 ; Sager , 1997 ) frameworks have proposed adaptive and participatory decision making and effective communication as the most salient ways for resolving the wicked planning problems . To continue to deepen adaptive management knowledge in light of insights generated by Rittel and Webber ’ s work , a formal analysis that aims at modeling and understanding wicked planning problems by using meta-decision theory is pursued in this paper .
This paper re-frames Rittel and Webber ’ s “ wicked ” planning problem hypothesis in a decision theoretical framework . In particular , it is hypothesized that the application of decision analysis techniques in resolving wicked environmental design problems requires determination of meta-decision choices in structuring a decision problem , such as the choice of the set of values pursued , the set of alternatives , the appropriate decision rule , and the choice of the weights to be assigned to the pluralistic values and alternative mixes in public decision-making arenas . 1 Explicit focus on structuring the decision problems could illuminate wicked value conflicts often observed in highly tense economic development versus biological and ecological conservation-related public decision-making arenas across the globe . This paper has
1 In the rest of this paper , public decision-making arenas are defined as containing at least two or
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