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, 2015Kingstown,

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

 CrimeGlobal warming

Poverty

Access to fuel (resources)

Air pollution

Climate change

Epidemics – e.g. AIDS

Equality

Drug Trafficking

Drug abuse

Domestic Violence

DiseaseDisaster 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

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