Navigating Wicked Problems through Collaboration

ImperfectCity is a bold initiative by the city of Aarhus that rethinks urban perfection by embracing imperfection as a strength. Focused on the revitalisation of the brutalist Kulturhus Bunkeren (KB), a former school saved from demolition, the project aims to convert the space into a climate-adapted, multifunctional community hub. It will provide support services for youth facing mental health challenges while serving as a platform for inclusive urban development. 

By acknowledging the beauty in architectural and social imperfection, ImperfectCity aspires to reshape city planning, public perception, and community engagement.

Aarhus faces two major “wicked problems”: the increasing mental health crisis among youth (affecting 18,000–24,000 people aged 14–30) and the underappreciation and loss of brutalist architectural heritage. The pressure on young people to succeed, alongside a societal emphasis on perfection, has exacerbated issues like anxiety, depression, and social isolation. Simultaneously, functional and community-oriented brutalist buildings have been stigmatized, neglected, or demolished due to changing tastes and lack of perceived adaptability. These challenges reflect broader issues in urban development where striving for idealised solutions often marginalizes both people and places.

ImperfectCity faces these challenges as an opportunity to promote acceptance, sustainability, and inclusion. The initiative is embedded in the city’s broader experimental governance strategy—focusing on collaboration, climate adaptation, and social innovation—to create a future that is resilient, humane, and truly for all.

In the fields of planning and policy, a wicked problem is defined as a deeply complex issue that defies clear solutions due to incomplete, contradictory, and evolving requirements. Unlike "tame" problems, wicked problems do not have a definitive formulation or a stopping point. 

They are not problems that can be solved once and for all, but rather issues that resist resolution because of their social complexity. Solutions are not right or wrong, but rather judged as better or worse depending on context, values, and outcomes. 

Every wicked problem is essentially unique and often symptomatic of other systemic challenges. These issues exceed the capacity of any one sector, instead demanding the kind of creative thinking, democratized engagement, and integrated action that come from government, nonprofits, businesses, and citizens working in concert.

The ImperfectCity project in Aarhus offers a compelling example of how a city can rethink its approach to wicked problems through social innovation and inclusive planning. Aarhus faces two intersecting wicked problems: the deteriorating mental health of young people and the social and aesthetic stigma attached to brutalist architecture. 

These problems do not have clear solutions and are deeply embedded in broader societal narratives — about perfection, productivity, and aesthetics — that shape urban life and personal well-being. [ref: How to Turn Wicked Problems Into Ambitious Opportunities, By Anders Erlendsson & Sara Gry Striegler, DDC – Danish Design Center]

Instead of treating these issues separately or searching for definitive solutions, ImperfectCity embraces their complexity. The project reimagines Kulturhus Bunkeren, a brutalist building saved from demolition, as a space for youth mental health services, community engagement, and climate adaptation. This multifunctional use challenges negative perceptions of both mental health and brutalism, fostering inclusion and resilience rather than perfection. In Aarhus Municipality, they work with wicked problems. They work on six wicked problems:

1. Youth mental health and well-being
2. Integrating health into everything
3. Recruitment and competencies
4. The Democratic dialogue
5. Climate and sustainability
6. Mixed neighborhoods and integration

ImperfectCity takes a strong and integrated approach to addressing two of Aarhus’ identified Wicked Problems: Youth Mental Health and Well-being and Integrating Health into Everything. At its core, the initiative challenges the harmful “culture of perfection” that pressures young people to succeed quickly and flawlessly in education, work, and life. 

The approach also acknowledges the structural gaps—such as limited community spaces and fragmented support systems—and works to create stronger networks for early intervention and support.

Beyond prevention, ImperfectCity focuses on recovery and inclusion, especially for young people already living with mental health challenges. It creates pathways from hospital to community, both physically and symbolically, using art, storytelling, and job counselling rooted in creativity and care. By embedding mental health into education, employment, and public life, the initiative reflects a deep commitment to “integrating health into everything.”

 It supports re-skilling, promotes mentally healthy work environments, and redefines success not as perfection, but as connection, growth, and belonging. Through this holistic and human-centred model, ImperfectCity builds a more inclusive, compassionate city for all.

As a strategic framework, they use the Aarhus Compass, which describes the municipality Aarhus would like to be a part of. 

Smaller system. More citizens'. [ref: The Aarhus Compass, https://faellesomaarhus.aarhus.dk]

Following the Aarhus Compass, the municipality launched the Goal Compass and Collaboration Compass tools, which help to create a higher degree of collaboration and more clarity around goals and the function of the organization "from within".

The Aarhus Compass is a strategic governance tool created by the City of Aarhus, Denmark, to guide decision-making in complex urban development—particularly when dealing with “Wicked Problems” (WiPs), which are multifaceted issues with no clear or final solutions. Rather than being a physical instrument, the Compass is a conceptual framework that helps align municipal policies and projects with the city’s core values and long-term vision. At its core, it emphasizes cross-sector collaboration, experimentation, and citizen inclusion as essential strategies for addressing today’s most pressing urban and social challenges.

The Aarhus Compass was approved by a unanimous City Council on 28 April 2021 and is a reimagining of our approach to leadership, management and public welfare development.The new structure meant that Aarhus could respond faster and more efficiently to challenges. Flexibility and cross-cutting collaboration became the keywords.

ImperfectCity aligns closely with the Aarhus Compass Strategy, particularly in its emphasis on well-being, inclusion, co-creation, and sustainable urban development. The Compass Strategy sets out a vision for Aarhus as a city where people thrive, diversity is celebrated, and solutions are co-created across sectors and communities. ImperfectCity embodies these values by placing young people's mental health and well-being at the centre of urban life, acknowledging that thriving cities must support the whole person, not just economic or academic success. [ref: Aarhus Kommune, https://faellesomaarhus.aarhus.dk/vilde-problemer]

In line with the Compass Strategy’s call to integrate health into all policies, ImperfectCity adopts a holistic, cross-sectoral approach—linking health, education, employment, and culture. It also operationalises the Compass’s principles of participation and co-creation, as young people are not just recipients of services but active co-designers of prevention tools, recovery pathways, and community spaces. The use of creative methodologies like art and Lego Serious Play fosters inclusive dialogue and civic engagement, helping build resilient, connected communities—a cornerstone of the Aarhus Compass vision. In this way, ImperfectCity is not just a response to Wicked Problems, but a model for living the values of the city’s strategic future.

Imperfect City integrates the coupling competencies methodology into its project design, partnership building, and delivery structure, especially in its work in the Skejby area of Aarhus. With 24,572 inhabitants and 50 local businesses, Skejby is a diverse urban area within a wider city of 367,332 people—making it an ideal microcosm for cross-sectoral collaboration.

Coupling competencies ("koblings kompetencer" in Danish) refer to the skills and capacities needed to bridge gaps between professions, organizations, and sectors. Developed by Henning Jørgensen and colleagues at Aalborg University, this concept is especially relevant in public sector innovation, where complex social and environmental challenges require coordinated, multi-actor responses. The coupling competencies model provides a scalable approach to dealing with complex urban challenges that no single actor can solve alone. By embedding this approach in Skejby, Imperfect City creates a replicable model for:

• Cross-sectoral resilience
• Participatory design
• Socially sustainable urban transformation

1. Interdisciplinary Partner Selection

Imperfect City works with a diverse mix of Delivery Partners—cultural institutions (Museum Ovartaci, Aarhus School of Architecture), mental health and welfare services (SIND, Ryesgade 7), civic groups (Skejby Rangers, Olof Palmes Alle 11), education providers (FGU Aarhus, FO-Aarhus, Day High School Gimle), and commercial/municipal actors (Ramboll, Erhverv Aarhus)—ensuring multiple perspectives shape the project from the start.

2. Facilitated Coupling Practices

Coupling is built through cross-sector working groups, shared framing workshops to align language and values, and designated “connectors” who help bridge organizational cultures and ensure smooth collaboration.

3. Co-Creation and Shared Delivery

Partners co-design and deliver project components, manage parts of the budget, and contribute outputs aligned with the project’s mission. They act as co-authors, not subcontractors, bringing unique local knowledge and networks into the process.

4. Reflexivity and Feedback

Regular reflection sessions assess the strength of collaboration, identify signs of decoupling, and refine strategies to strengthen trust and integration.

5. Evaluation as Learning

Evaluation focuses on the quality of collaboration, surfacing unexpected outcomes and informing future practice and policy, particularly within Aarhus Municipality’s broader urban strategies.

Functionally, the Aarhus Compass shifts together with the Coupling Competencies methodology shifts the municipality’s role from being a traditional service provider to a facilitator and co-creator, encouraging active participation from communities in shaping their city. It promotes innovative approaches to issues like youth mental health, climate adaptation, and housing inequality while supporting Aarhus’s goal of being a “Good City for All.” In practice, this framework is applied in initiatives like ImperfectCity, where it helps develop solutions that embrace imperfection, bridge social and spatial divides, and integrate cultural, environmental, and social sustainability—such as transforming the brutalist Kulturhus Bunkeren into a welcoming community hub.

“The strategy should help us stay within the uncertainty instead of rushing to quick fixes that might not work adequately” Martin Østergaard Christensen, Chief Executive, Aarhus Municipality [source: https://www.resonans.dk/]

In this way, Aarhus acknowledges that wicked problems cannot be "solved" in the traditional sense. Instead, the city adopts an iterative, inclusive, and flexible strategy that allows for continuous adaptation and co-creation. The ImperfectCity project thus becomes not a fix, but a living response—a space where urban imperfection becomes a source of shared strength and innovation. Aarhus MUA government officials, nonprofit leaders, and citizens alike who are acting for social value can learn how to use a geospatial approach to improve insight, trust, and the efficacy of their combined efforts to solve wicked problems.