Modeling Wicked Problems

Anthropocene Campus, ©Sera Cakal

Presented by Paul Edwards

Most Anthropocene concerns are “wicked problems,” complex problems that defy a single answer and may never be solved definitively. They involve highly complicated systems that are impossible to fully know, much less control. Applying transdisciplinary systems models to problems such as climate change, biodiversity loss, transition to renewable energy sources, or global food supply gives us useful heuristics while forcing us to think about complexity and to witness non-linear and counterintuitive outcomes.

Presented by Paul Edwards (Science, Technology & Society Program, University of Michigan); co-developed with Miriam Diamond (Department of Earth Sciences, University of Toronto) and Pablo Jensen (Institut rhônalpin des systèmes complexes, École normale supérieure de Lyon). See also the Campus seminar on “Modeling Wicked Problems”.

Recording: Video / Audio