23-25 November 2008, Capital Cities, Wicked Problems: Best Practices in Planning and Policy Response Mechanisms, Sharjah

Worldwide, capital cities, and indeed mega cities, deal routinely with intractable problems that are called ‘wicked problems.’ These problems are not easily defined, have no obvious solutions, and attempts to solve them will trigger or exacerbate other wicked problems. As cities grow, so do the wicked problems, with which government and all urban stakeholders must contend. Through presentations and discussions at its 10th Urban Planning Symposium, Sharjah, the capital of the Sharjah Emirate, aims to learn from, and share its own experiences with, planners and policy makers from other parts of the world, about planning and policy mechanisms that have proven to be effective in addressing wicked problems. Papers should be prescriptive in terms of, first, the specific mechanisms discussed, second, the political, legal, cultural, technological, environmental and other implications of the mechanisms, and, third, lessons for cities desiring to adopt or adapt the mechanisms.
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