WICKED PROBLEMS: TACKLING GLOBAL ISSUES IN THE 21ST CENTURY

Catalog description

(Cross-listed with GEOG 43070 ) This course provides an overview and analysis of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), as well as strategies that can be used for tackling them. The SDGs address the most serious problems faced by humankind today. These include poverty, hunger, inequality, climate change, economic development and environmental sustainability. A key characteristic of the SDGs is that they are known as “wicked problems.” Wicked problems are complex issues that resist conventional approaches to problem solving, and for which existing solutions often create unintended consequences that only make the original problem worse. Emphasis is placed on problems of collective action, evidence-based public policies and interdisciplinary approaches to addressing global issues.