Week 7

Tackling Wicked Problems in Modern Cities

Introduction

People of today’s world encounter numerous challenges mixed together and called wicked problems. Such challenges are complex, intertwined, and not easy to solve with short-term and straightforward measures. To gain an understanding of the types of Wicked problems that affect Urban dwellers, a survey of users coupled with interviews was conducted. We also include a user persona, storyboard and outline a solution for these issues.

Problem Definition

The following wicked problems were identified in most surveys :

1. Traffic Congestion: Continual congestion and overcrowding in city roads and transportation networks.

2. Affordable Housing: This means that there is limited supply of affordable units in the housing market to meet the increasing demand for living space.

3. Environmental Pollution: This is because poor air quality, or as generally referred to as air pollution, and excessive noise pollution impact on the health of inhabitants and general quality of life.

4. Social Inequality: Difficulties in obtaining services and fair chances by the stakeholder groups The politics of equity in services and chances by the stakeholder populations

5. Public Safety: The sample survey covers attitudes towards crime trends and police efficiency.

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 User Persona

In order to further explain these issues, it will be necessary to describe the individual, for example, Dave, a citizen from a downtown metropolitan.

- Name: Dave Chen

- Age: 27

- Occupation: Architect

- Location: Lower Manhattan, New York

- Income: up to $90,000 a year

- Status : Single

- Goals: Easy access to workplace, reasonable prices for rent, clean environment, safe neighborhood

- Frustrations: Congested roads every day, expensive fees for rents, air pollution, and insecurity at night,

With our persona, we now are able to see the issue

Storyboard

 

Scene 1: Morning commute

Dave wakes up early in the morning in order to avoid congested traffic on the road. Even after this, he is caught up in congestion, and arrives at his workplace, already behind schedule and late. His time is then wasted by congestion and this frustrates him even more with enhanced stress levels in the course of the day. (Pratiwi, D.J., 2022)

 

Scene 2: House Hunting

 

In his break at work, Dave searches for cheap apartment online. He finds out that most of the apartment options that fall within the price range he’s willing to pay are quite far from his place of work, and this mean he has  a lot of traveling time and daily stress.(Pratiwi, 2022)

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Scene 3: Environmental Concerns

 

One evening, Dave decides to take a walk and he feels that the air is quite bad and he uncomfortable to be outside because of this. From this case we can see that he is concerned with the effects of living in an environment that is characterized by pollution on her health in future.

 

Scene 4: Nighttime Safety

 

One night after clubbing, Dave is uncomfortable walking from the subway station to her home because there is no proper lighting working around the area, and police patrols are limited.

 

Solution

Wicked problems are notoriously complex and multifaceted, and tackling them effectively requires a multi-pronged approach that goes beyond singular answers like technology or coverage intervention. here's a spread on why each technological advancements and coverage interventions are frequently vital, but need to work together:

boundaries of Technological solutions:

• Addressing Root causes: technology may be a effective device, however it often addresses signs in preference to the foundation causes of wicked troubles. for instance, an app to connect homeless people with shelters doesn't deal with problems of profits inequality or lack of low priced housing. (Murphy, R., 2020)

 

• Unequal get entry to and impact: Technological answers can exacerbate current inequalities if no longer applied thoughtfully. now not absolutely everyone has access to era or the capabilities to use it efficaciously.

obstacles of coverage Interventions:

• sluggish pace of alternate: coverage modifications may be slow and bureaucratic, lagging in the back of the speedy evolution of depraved problems.

• accidental consequences: rules, if no longer cautiously designed, can have unintentional consequences that create new problems or exacerbate existing ones. 

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Smart Traffic Management

 

Introduce traffic management systems with AI to improve mobility and minimize traffic jams.

That is why implementing traffic lights that can change in response to data collected from sensors and cameras in real time is effective.

 

Affordable Housing Initiatives

 

Developers should be engaged in order to construct affordable housing as well as market-rate housing units.

Encourage the creation of affordable housing through incentives such as tax credits and grants to developers.

Green Infrastructure

 

Plant trees that can be used to enhance the quality of air and act as natural barriers such as parks, green roofs, and urban forests (Alanbari, 2022).

This should go hand in hand with pollution control measures like constructing air purifying systems and sound proofing systems in the city master plan. 

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Enhanced Public Safety Measures

Diminish the visibility with more street lamps, put security cameras occasionally, and enhance the police beats.

Conclusion

Modern urban issues are therefore considered wicked problems because their nature is replete with interdependencies and they affect inhabitants such as Dave in various ways. In this sense, the analysis of these problems and a proper approach towards the solution of these challenges will allow the cities to struggle for creating the suitable conditions for people’s living and working in the urbanized environments that are becoming more equitable and sustainable.

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References :

 Greenfield, B. (2011, October 16). America’s most stressful cities. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/bethgreenfield/2011/09/23/americas-most-stressful-cities/?sh=54f202661396

Owens, D. (2021, December 7). UX CASE STUDY — WICKED PROBLEMS - Deniz Owens - Medium. Medium. https://medium.com/@denizowens/ux-case-study-wicked-problems-a7bddcf6dfa2

Alanbari, D. H. A., Alkindi, S. K., & Al_Ahbabi, S. H. (2022). Green infrastructure to enhance urban sustainability. International Journal of Health Sciences (IJHS) (En LíNea), 9256–9269. https://doi.org/10.53730/ijhs.v6ns2.7426

Murphy, R. (2020). Technological solutions and Social-Technological solutions. In Springer eBooks (pp. 309–338). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53325-0_10

Pratiwi, D. J., Siswono, N. T. Y. E., & Mariana, N. N. (2022). The Role-Playing Problem-Posing learning to improve students’ emotional intelligence and mathematics Problem-Solving skills. IJORER, 3(3), 312–322. https://doi.org/10.46245/ijorer.v3i3.217