4 research outputs found
Wicked problems and clumsy solutions: Planning as expectation management
In 1973, Horst W Rittel and Malvin A Webber introduced the term âwicked problemâ in planning
theory. They describe spatial planning as dealing with inherent uncertainty, complexity and inevitable
normativity. This contribution picks up the concept of wicked problems, reflects on it from a
planning-theoretical perspective, and proposes the use of Cultural Theoryâs concept of clumsy
solutions as a response to wicked planning problems. In discussing public participation processes
in spatial planning, it is then shown what clumsy solutions mean for spatial planning. The four
rationalities of Cultural Theory are then used to explain why public participation in planning can
become wicked, and how these rationalities provide a response that copes with this wickedness