Dealing with discomfort: how the unspeakable confounds wicked planning problems

Deanna Grant-Smith; Natalie Osborne

doi:10.1080/07293682.2015.1135812

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Dealing with discomfort: how the unspeakable confounds wicked planning problems

Journal article

Peer reviewed

Dealing with discomfort: how the unspeakable confounds wicked planning problems

Deanna Grant-Smith and Natalie Osborne

Australian Planner, Vol.53(1), pp.46-53

2016

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/07293682.2015.1135812

Abstract

deathscapes

emotional geographies

necrogeographies

sexscapes

unspeakable problems

Wicked problems

The idea of 'wicked' problems has made a valuable contribution to recognising the complexity and challenges of contemporary planning. However, some wicked policy problems are further complicated by a significant moral, psychological, religious or cultural dimension. This is particularly the case for problems that possess strong elements of abjection and symbolic pollution and high degrees of psychosocial sensitivity. Because this affects the way these problems are framed and discussed they are also characterised by high levels of verbal proscription. As a result, they are not discussed in the rational and emotion-free way that conventional planning demands and can become obscured or inadequately acknowledged in planning processes. This further contributes to their wickedness and intractability. Through paradigmatic urban planning examples, we argue that placing their unspeakable nature at the forefront of enquiry will enable planners to advocate for a more contextually and culturally situated approach to planning, which accommodates both emotional and embodied talk alongside more technical policy contributions. Re-imagining wicked problems in this way has the potential to enhance policy and plan-making and to disrupt norms, expose their contingency, and open new ways of planning for both the unspeakable and the merely wicked.

Details

Title: Dealing with discomfort: how the unspeakable confounds wicked planning problems
Authors: Deanna Grant-Smith (Corresponding Author) - Queensland University of Technology
Natalie Osborne - Griffith University
Publication details: Australian Planner, Vol.53(1), pp.46-53
Publisher: Routledge
Date published: 2016
DOI: 10.1080/07293682.2015.1135812
ISSN: 2150-6841
Organisation Unit: School of Business and Creative Industries
Language: English
Record Identifier: 991016188102621
Output Type: Journal article