Confronting Conflicts to Yes: Untangling Wicked Problems with Open Design Systems

TL;DR

This paper presents an open design system approach that integrates stakeholder preferences and complex system realities to facilitate collaborative decision-making and resolve conflicts in project development, exemplified by a Dutch wind farm case.

Contribution

It introduces a structured stakeholder assessment method and an optimization framework within Open Design Systems to enhance transparency, inclusiveness, and democratic decision-making in complex socio-technical projects.

Findings

Successful application to Dutch wind farm project balancing stakeholder preferences

Enhanced stakeholder trust through transparent assessment methods

Promotion of democratic, collaborative decision-making processes

Abstract

Current project development practices often fail to engage stakeholders early and effectively. Decision support is often non-inclusive, single-sided, and lacking in transparency, while complexity goes beyond human's comprehension. Additionally, many approaches focus primarily on technical system aspects, neglecting the integration of stakeholders' individual preferences. This often results in project impasses, leaving stakeholders unable to collaboratively achieve a "yes." There is a need for a purely associative, a-priori design approach that integrates system realities and stakeholder ideals within a joint socio-technical solution space. The state-of-the-art Preferendus, embedded in the proven Open Design Systems (Odesys) methodology, is a neutral tool for transforming complexity into success. Aiming for synthesis, Odesys' robust IMAP optimization method generates a single best-fit design solution. Here, Odesys is applied for a Dutch wind farm stalemate development, balancing multiple stakeholder preferences, wind farm performances, and project constraints. The success of this approach hinges on stakeholder trust and input. This article introduces a structured stakeholder assessment method using choice-based conjunctive analysis (CBCA), facilitating transparent determination of global and local stakeholder weights and preference functions. Modelling 'disputable' exogenous factors as endogenous design parameters, the application demonstrates how one can shift toward a collaborative "yes." For this, it is concluded that a zoomed-out solution space would enable the energy transition to be tackled with multiple options rather than a prescribed one. The Odesys approach fosters decision-making that aligns with the social threefold principles of freedom, equality, and fraternity, guiding projects toward genuine democratic outcomes rather than selecting from curated options.