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Dear all, I suppose this message opened a can of worms… Let’s see. Terry: Wicked problems are a limited class of relatively difficult design problems. They are class of design problems defined and bounded by the characteristics given by Rittel. Rittel’s (1971) founding observation was essentially the context-dependent character of design problems. And, once acknowledging that design problems are dependent on context, we are taken into the rabbit hole of the idea of ‘context’. And this is where things get super interesting, I think. And I also think that Rittel’s point leads to a more foundational direction than just into a “limited class of relatively difficult design problems”. Terry: Elsewhere, I’ve problematized the definitions of wicked problem given by Rittel and described a standard predictive design process for addressing and resolving them that combines deterministic prediction and collaborative design activities. And once design problems become understood as a process that involves the framing context, a necessary ingredient to be modelled - in order to truly make the models holistic and predictive - would be to include the way designers (here I suppose human beings) use their knowledge, skills, and resources to produce a sense of context in their socio-material interaction. And, I think it is essentially a quite hopeless challenge. But, once the context is framed and clearly defined, then it becomes possible to talk about the development of predictive models of limited sort. Terry: The classes of design problems that are more difficult than wicked problems, might or might not be ‘wicked’ as defined by Rittel. Regardless, they are difficult! Based on the above, I think we are not talking about wicked problems in Rittel’s sense here, but about very complex and dynamic scientific engineering problems. And in this realm we are somehow constrained in some sort of pure rational thought… Kind regards, Salu Ylirisku Associate professor SDU Design Kolding, Denmark https://sydanskuniversitet.academia.edu/SaluYlirisku ----------------------------------------------------------------- PhD-Design mailing list <[log in to unmask]> Discussion of PhD studies and related research in Design Subscribe or Unsubscribe at https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/phd-design -----------------------------------------------------------------