Tackling “Wicked Problems” in Planning Studio Courses

Planning practitioners encounter both “tame” and “wicked” problems in the workplace. Conventional planning studios generally prepare students for the less complex or tame problems, but politically contentious studios fraught with uncertainty will simulate a more realistic, if not more challenging, studio experience. In this study, I use content analysis of university syllabi to determine the degree to which planning studios are preparing students to tackle “wicked problems” upon graduation. Then, based on the lessons learned from a workshop pertaining to natural gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale, I offer guidance to instructors of studio-type courses who wish to introduce their students to complex problem solving.