Mapping a Wicked Problem
In collaboration with Saumya Kharbanda and Jiyoung Ko
For this assignment we decided to map the wicked problem of poor eating habits in college students. The mapping process produced a complex web that led us from poor eating habits in college students to financial issues, health care concerns, climate concerns, and overall societal infrastructure issues that were all interwoven and linked between each other. They created a dense web of issues that affected environments, people and spheres far beyond our own initial realm of college students. We saw how a seemingly small problem that affects us actually has great consequences when the entire system that it sits within is considered. It was interesting and enlightening to see the problem framed in this context. We realized that a problem like this does not happen at this scale when only a few people having this problem. It is when this problem has already grown to a much larger scale that we see the consequences building up and impacting the world beyond ourselves. A more challenging aspect of this exercise was deciding where the impacts ended. We mapped the problem out from a small personal scale to a much larger societal scale, but even at this point issues would keep looping back into things that had already occurred and it became a cycle that was hard to get ourselves out of or find a stopping point.
Mapping this problem changed how we thought about framing design problems in terms of boundaries and context because we saw just how far out that you really must look at problem to fully understand where the best point of intervention within the system will be. As designers we need to be able to see where we can make an impact to effect change in the most impactful way possible. The points of intervention with the most promising potential that we identified within the structure of the map were at the school budgeting and food supply phase. If the budgets were redistributed to accommodate change in health food offerings to students that would create a greater demand on the food supply system for organic/clean foods. This would then help to alleviate certain climate stresses as well as detrimental health effects on students that lead to issues in healthcare and debt which can multiply into greater problems as seen on our map. Of course the way in which this type of change is implemented would have to be carefully designed so as not to cause greater issues with supply not being able to meet demands as well as other economic and budgetary issues that could potentially be impacted by the change.
Let’s take a look at one possible approach to make an impact at the leverage point. Before we pin point a possible solution, broader understanding of where the problem is situated is necessary. From the map we created around the issue of university budget allocation, we can observe that the distribution of the budget does not stand on its on but as a part of a complicated web of other logistical and political issues within the university. If the budget portion for food quality increases, we need to be mindful that this financial support comes at a cost of other sectors of the university. For example, offering healthier food choices might come at the cost of building a new football stadium. Now, what would influence the university choice to offer better quality food instead of a new stadium? As a private institution, the school needs to have a sufficient economic grounding to run the system. One of the ways for the university to finance this need is to recruit a higher number of undergraduate students. How do high school students and their parents shop for universities? They look at the ranking and reputation of the university, which serve as a signifier for higher quality education and better job opportunities with higher salaries. With this framework in mind, if a group or organization of students can persuade school officials by linking better quality of food to higher ranking and reputation of the school, and showing how it can increase number of undergraduate students, the school would be willing to make a shift to offer better campus food options.
From this assignment, we learned the importance of being able to identify where the problem is situated within a complex web of other issues, and craft a narrative at the leverage point by acknowledging the relationship among these issues.
