A new approach to addressing the contemporary world's most difficult
challenges, such as climate change and poverty.
Conflicts over "the problem" and "the solution" plague the modern world
and land problem solvers in what has been called "wicked problem
territory"--a social space with high levels of conflict over problems
and solutions. In Design Strategy, Nancy C. Roberts proposes design as
a strategy of problem solving to close the gap between an existing state
and a desired state. Utilizing this approach, designers and change
agents are better able to minimize self-defeating conflicts over
problems and solutions, break the logjam of opposition, and avoid the
traps that lock problem solvers into a never-ending cycle of conflict.
Design as a field continues to grow and evolve, but Design Strategy
focuses on three levels of design where "wicked problems" tend to
lurk--strategic design (of private and public organizations), systemic
design (of networked and overlapping economic, technical, political, and
social subsystems), and regenerative design (of life-giving realignment
between humanity and nature). Within this framework, Roberts presents
refreshingly interdisciplinary case studies that integrate theory and
practice across diverse fields to guide professionals in any
domain--from business and nonprofit organizations to educational and
healthcare systems--and finally offers hope that humanity can tackle the
existential challenges we face in the twenty-first century.
