A joint event of the Cluster of Excellence "Temporal Communities" (Freie Universität Berlin) and the Cluster of Excellence "Matters of Activity: Image, Space, Material" (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin)

Initiated by Claudia Mareis (EXC MoA) & Anita Traninger (EXC 2020)
Organised by Anke Gründel (EXC MoA) & Jan-Erik Stange (EXC 2020)

Wicked problems, a term that is more than half a century old, describes problems characterized by a lack of a clear definition. They are not easily boundable and often include contradictory and changing facts, opinions, and values held by diverse stakeholders. As a result, problem definition and resolution strategy are necessarily interlinked. Such problems cannot be approached with rational, linear problem-solving methods but rather demand an iterative approach that seeks provisional resolutions rather than permanent and fixed solutions. We suggest that due to the often "wicked" nature of research in the humanities and social sciences – not to mention design where wicked problems are rampant – a wicked problems perspective might help us model such problems and conceive of alternative research strategies.

This is an opportunity for an exchange of thoughts and ideas around complexity and uncertainty in an informal and friendly setting. With the two Clusters doing very different work, we hope that "wicked problems" can serve both as an entry point for such an exchange and as a reference point for orienting our work towards broader social, environmental, and political problem spaces.

Participation is only open to members of the respective two Clusters of Excellence.

The event will take place under 3G rules. Participants need to be vaccinated, recovered or bring a negative test result. The discussion will be based on two articles that we would like to ask participants to read beforehand. We will provide participants with more details on the location and send them the articles shortly after 5 November 2021.