USING DESIGN STRATEGIES AGAINST “WICKED PROBLEMS” AND TO PROMOTE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, WITH A FOCUS ON ST. VINCENT

Using design strategies against
“wicked problems”
and to promote
sustainable
development,
with a focus on St. Vincent
St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Country Conference 2015
The University of the West Indies (UWI),
Open Campus, St. Vincent .
11 -12 March, 2015
Kingstown,
St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Lesley-Ann Noel
lesley-ann.noel@sta.uwi.edu

You can do anything. We see, accept
and sometimes invent restrictions to
what we believe we can accomplish. We
can also remove them, and that is the
work of creative, enlightened, disciplined
minds. So do the best that you can
imagine, and view every obstacle along
the way as a creative opportunity.
Cheryl Heller

Introduction
In January 2015, undergraduate design students of the
Department of Creative and Festival Arts of the University of the
West Indies in St. Augustine, Trinidad, who were being
introduced to various design methodologies were introduced to
the concept of ‘wicked problems’ and had to discuss how design
methodologies could be used in addressing wicked problems. In
this study, The students were asked to focus on the island of St.
Vincent, in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and demonstrate
how as designers they could apply specific design
methodologies to address wicked problems, The students also
brainstormed about solutions for a specific ‘wicked problem’ of
their choice related to St. Vincent.

Tame problems
• relatively well-defined and
stable problem statement.
• definite stopping point, i.e. we
know when a solution is
reached.
• has a solution which can be
objectively evaluated as being
right or wrong.
• belongs to a class of similar
problems which can be solved
in a similar manner.
• has solutions which can be
tried and abandoned.

Wicked
problems
A form of social or cultural
problem that is difficult to
solve because of
incomplete, contradictory,
and changing requirements.
‘Messy’ and normally
unsolvable planning or
social problems, that can
only be managed and not
resolved.

Design is the best way to get from
A to B when you don’t yet know
what B is. It’s sort of that simple,
and people who want to be able to
lead change at that essential level
should look to design as a
process….
Design is seeing, synthesizing,
imagining, prototyping and then
making experiences and things

Design is about ‘making things better
for people’.
Design activity is focused on human
behavior and quality of life.
Design can support the development and delivery of
public services, by ensuring that products and services
meet the needs of users, to increasing innovation
within organisations and bringing new perspectives to
procurement.

Wicked Problems in St. Vincent
Crime
Global warming
Poverty
Access to fuel
(resources)
Air pollution
Climate change
Epidemics – e.g. AIDS
Equality
Drug Trafficking
Drug abuse
Domestic Violence
Disease
Disaster management
Deforestation
Famine
Gender Discrimination
Global financial crisis
Natural disasters
Pollution of coastal waters
Loss of the banana market.
Human Trafficking
PollutionPolitical
Homophobia
Health Care and Wellness
Poor Infrastructure of roads
Population ageing
Waste Management
Unemployment
Threats from Volcanoes
Teenage Pregnancy
Sustainability
Sexism
Social injustice
Rising sea levels
Scarcity
Racism

Design
Strategies
• Design thinking
• “Design thinking is a
human-centered
approach to innovation
that draws from the
designer's toolkit to
integrate the needs of
people, the possibilities
of technology, and the
requirements for
business success.”
• Tim Brown

USING DESIGN STRATEGIES AGAINST “WICKED PROBLEMS” AND TO PROMOTE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, WITH A FOCUS ON ST. VINCENT

Service design is the
activity of planning and
organizing people,
infrastructure,
communication and
material components of
a service in order to
improve its quality and
the interaction between
service provider and
customers.
Service Design

• Co-design, also
known as
participatory design
in the USA, is the
act of designing
collaboratively
among all
stakeholders
including designers
and non-designers.
Co-design

User-Centred
Design
User Centred design
is a broad term to
describe design
processes in which
end-users influence
how a design takes
shape

• Designers and design strategies such
as co-design, user-centred design,
design thinking and service design
can play a viable and valuable role in
addressing wicked problems in Saint
Vincent and the Grenadines like
transportation, unemployment,
pollution and flooding.
• Designers can contribute actively by
leading the interventions using design
strategies or by being members of
multidisciplinary teams, in
brainstorming, planning and engaging
various types of stakeholders
throughout the ideation process.
• Their involvement in these activities
can lead to innovative solutions and
alternative perspectives on the
problems.
Conclusions

USING DESIGN STRATEGIES AGAINST “WICKED PROBLEMS” AND TO PROMOTE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, WITH A FOCUS ON ST. VINCENT

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