Sustainability Awareness and Expertise: Structuring the Cognitive Processes for Solving Wicked Problems and Achieving an Adaptive-State

The term, “wicked problem,” describes the intractable nature of social policy and planning problems that are complex, engender multiple and often irreconcilable stakeholder views, have no definitive formulation, no solution algorithm or single best solution, little tolerance for imbalances or judgment error, and no single repository of expertise from which trustworthy solutions might emerge. This also describes problems of sustainability and reflects a consistent theme that emerges from the last four decades for business, science and society – the need to improve understanding of complex systems and their interactions, incorporate non-expert knowledge and public values, improve communication between expert and lay groups, and foster deliberation between business and public groups with competing deontological views.