Each of these six WPP meetings involves 15 invited stakeholders from various sectors of business, constituting a diverse group of people. They meet in the Wicked Problems Plaza at the New World Campus in The Hague, The Netherlands. Each session has an accompanying public event (in Dutch) on the same topic; a movie, a presentation or a public group discussion. The programme has been devised by the PrC, the New World Campus and the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) programme Duurzaam Door.
First, clean water
The first meeting, on 14 April, was co-organised by Aqua for All, a Dutch non-profit organisation with expertise in water, sanitation and hygiene. Other participants in the Plaza event were from business, NGOs and government, they were practitioners and academics. Some are very experienced in water management, others offered their ‘outsider’s’ perspective.
They discussed successes and obstacles to sustainable water management. Ideas generated during the morning’s discussions were harvested in the afternoon, but despite good intentions, it proved difficult to translate the broad discussions into concrete next steps. Doubts about feasibility and responding to opportunities meant there was no definite answer to the central question. However, participants reported that the journey to seek the answer was definitely worthwhile.
A more detailed report of the first WPP discussion about water and sanitation on 14 April is on the OneWorld website (in Dutch).
Importance of diversity
Diversity is important to the Wicked Problems Plaza concept (WPP), a methodology developed by RSM’s Professor Rob van Tulder. The central idea of the WPP is that in order to solve wicked problems – those problems that are difficult or impossible to solve because of incomplete, contradictory, and changing requirements – what’s needed is innovative solutions generated by the collaboration between a large diversity of stakeholders.
Next, safe and sustainable cities
The next Wicked Problems Plaza on Thursday 19 May will discuss ‘how to make cities green’. Other Wicked Problems sessions can be found on the New World Campus website (in Dutch).
