Buchanan.+Wicked+Problems

=Buchanan, Richard. "Wicked Problems in Design Thinking"= //Design Issues// 8.2 1992: 5-21. Print.

=Abstract= No abstract.

=Argument= Buchanan opens with a discussion on the transformation of design “from a trade activity to a segmented profession to a field for technical research and to what now should be recognized as a new liberal art of technological culture.” He continues a review of the liberal arts and the role of design in the twentieth century and technology as the use of knowledge, not hardware. Buchanan distinguishes between the areas of design, exploring the four main categories: 1. symbolic and visual communications, 2. material objects, 3. activities and organized services, and 4. complex systems or environments for living, working, playing and learning. However, he also emphasizes the need for a connection among these areas and states that "wicked" problems and indeterminacy is a common issue with all designers, and argues that in order to be effective, designers must find balance between their ideas, the logic of their products, and the usability of these products in everyday life.

=Key Passages= "Without integrative disciplines of understanding, communication, and action, there is little hope of sensibly extending knowledge beyond the library or laboratory in order to serve the purpose of enriching human life," (6).

"There is no area of contemporary life where design---the plan, project, or working hypothesis which constitutes the 'intention' in intentional operations---is not a significamt factor in shaping human experience," (8).

"Without appropriate reflection to help clarify the basis of communication among all the participants, there is little hope of understanding the foundations and value of design thinking in an increasingly complex technological culture," (8).

"The ability of designers to discover new relationships among signs, things, actions, and thoughts is one indication that design is not merely a technical specialization but a new liberal art," (14).

"The problem for designers is to conceive and plan what does not yet exist, and this occurs in the context of the indeterminacy of //wicked problems,//" (18).

=Selected Works Cited= Dewey, John. 1958. //Experience and Nature.// Reprint. New York: Dover Publications, Inc.

-. 1960. //The Quest for Certainty: A Study of the Relation of Knowledge and Action//. Reprint. New York: Capricorn Books.

Simon, Herbert. 1968. //The Sciences of the Artificial.// Cambridge: MIT Press.