Wicked Problems: how to engineer a better world

How should cities process mountains of waste without polluting the environment? Challenges that tangle personal, public, and planetary aspects―often occurring in health care, infrastructure, business and policy―are known as wicked problems, and they are not going away anytime soon.

In this talk, Guru Madhavan FRSA, will focus on key facets of systems engineering―efficiency, vagueness, vulnerability, safety, maintenance and resilience―illuminating how wicked problems have emerged throughout history and how best to address them in the future. He will explore best-known tragedies and lesser-known tales, from the efficient design of battleships to a volcano eruption that curtailed global commerce, and how maintenance of our sanitation systems or repair of our world. Braided throughout will be the uplifting tale of Edwin Link, an unsung hero who revolutionised aviation with his flight trainer. In Link’s story, Madhavan uncovers a model mindset to engage with wickedness.

Madhavan’s new book, on which the talk will be based, is an homage to society’s innovators and maintainers. Wicked Problems offers a refreshing vision to build a better future and demonstrates how engineering is a cultural choice―one that requires us to restlessly find ways to transform society but perhaps more critically, to care for the creations that already exist.

This event is free to attend and open to RSA Fellows, friends and colleagues.

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Please be aware that registrations will close two hours before the event is due to start.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

The RSA, 8 John Adam Street, London, United Kingdom