Inaugural lecture
Water – Wrestling with Wicked Problems Prof. Dr. Eddy J. Moors Water – Wrestling with Wicked Problems
Inaugural lecture of Prof. Dr. Eddy J. Moors Rector of IHE Delft Institute for Water Education
Delft, The Netherlands
5 October 2017 Published by: IHE Delft Institute for Water Education PO Box 3015, 2601 DA Delft, The Netherlands www.un-ihe.org [email protected]
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With thanks to Ruth Webber, Peter Stroo and Vera Schouten.
ISBN 978-90-73445-33-8 Contents
Setting the scene 5
Wicked problems 6
Questions to be asked 8
Trends 9
Complexity 15
What is happening at the global level? 19
Ways forward 21
How can we contribute? 25 Education 26 Research 26 Co-creation and collaboration 27
Closure 28
References 30
Biography 31
Annex: List of present PhD research topics at IHE Delft 32
Water – Wrestling with Wicked Problems 3
Setting the scene
My inaugural lecture “Water – Wrestling with Wicked Problems”, is about water and especially issues that deal with problems of water.
How have I got where I am and why am I interested in wicked water problems?
As a child, I experienced the tender touch of water when playing, swimming, and diving with the sensation of being weightless in a completely different world. Later in life, I also got to know the force of water while helping to rescue people from a capsized dinghy off the rocky shores of Spain; swimming to the bank of the Volta Noire in Burkina Faso after the boat from which we were attempting a discharge measurement, sank; and the power of water while driving over a two lane road on the frozen surface of the Lena River in East Siberia. I felt the need for water when staying in the desert north of Agadez in Niger, as well as the joy of water, when the water came rolling through the empty bed of the wadi. And the delight of water when taking the first sip of water offered by my host after a long hot day. These personal experiences made me addicted to water. This addiction, and the fact that water has so many appearances, added to my numerous observations that people may have completely different perceptions, made me realise that a large number of water related problems are wicked problems.
On the following pages, I would like to explain why I consider a large number of water related problems as being wicked. I will then say something about present trends and how I think we could be looking for solutions. I would like to close this booklet by expressing my ideas about how, especially from my point of view, we as IHE Delft, can contribute to working these problems out.
Water – Wrestling with Wicked Problems 5 Wicked problems
What is a wicked problem? Wicked problems are sometimes defined as problems that are difficult or impossible to solve because of incomplete, contradictory and changing requirements that are often difficult to recognize (see Figure 1). A wicked problem refers to a complex problem for which there is no simple method or solution, there is no single answer and every attempt can matter, because it affects the things people depend upon. Wicked problems are often socially complex and they have to deal with changing behaviours and outcomes that are unforeseen. For a more elaborate definition of wicked problems, the work by Rittel and Webber (1973) is a good starting point.
Leaking pipe and water bottle at New Delhi railway station.
Water – Wrestling with Wicked Problems 6 o clear sol tion