Wicked problems and design research: climate change adaptation in urban landscapes and disputed methods and knowledge claims

Climate change and increasing urbanisation require adaptation of existing urban landscapes. The complexity embedded within climate adaptation is a ´wicked problem´ (Rittel and Webber, 1973); a challenge without one ´right´ solution, which is likely to benefit from transdisciplinary collaboration and designerly thinking (Cross, 2001) in the context of Mode 2 research (Alvargonzáles 2011; Bernstein 2015). This essay argues that knowledge claims and methods found in design research have the capacity to play a more vital role together with the ´hard´ sciences´ in climate adaptation. However, the knowledge claims and methods in design research are not necessarily measurable in the same way as Mode 1 research.Furthermore, methods in design research might entail deliberate ambiguity and open-endedness which further stresses how to evaluate the methods. The latter might very well be its strength too in engaging ´wicked problems´
This is discussed with departure in disputes on methods and knowledge claims experienced by this researcher during a PhD-project using landscape architectural research through designing and action research in transdisciplinary contexts. During this research, dispute and discussions on knowledge claims and methods became evident. These were disputes on methods and knowledge claims coming from within the field of design research itself as well as from other professions. This essay will explore this through the example of own experiences of dispute in landscape architectural research put in relation to historical trends in the development of design research.
The objective of the essay is to contribute to discussions, and, hopefully, discourses, in landscape architectural research through designing, as being an important actor of knowledge-production in transdisciplinary contexts with regard to wicked problems such as climate change adaptation in urban landscapes.