ABSTRACT
Chapter 9 examines wicked problems. Wicked problems are not wicked in the sense of evil or malevolent (though it may feel that way), but wicked in the sense of being resistant to resolution. Wicked problems are difficult or impossible to solve because the problem itself is difficult to comprehend, being incomplete, contradictory and involving shifting requirements. Moreover, because of their complex interdependencies, efforts to solve one aspect of a wicked problem may reveal or create other problems. Solutions to such problems are often unstable and continually evolving, having no clear resolution, or in fact no solution at all. There is no right or wrong answer; “solutions” can only be judged as better or worse, good enough or not good enough.
