Addressing Wicked Problems in Public Policy: The Potential of Boundary Organizations in Fostering Policy Coordination, Coherence, and Knowledge Governance

This paper explores how a newly established Portuguese public administration competence center, PlanAPP, can contribute to effective policymaking for complex, or "wicked," problems. It examines PlanAPP's potential as a boundary organization (BO) by analyzing its activities through the lenses of policy coordination and coherence (PCC) and knowledge governance (KG). The authors identify three key ingredients for improved policymaking: internal cross-sectoral networking, external networking and participation, and knowledge sharing. They analyze PlanAPP's projects to assess how well it embodies these characteristics and finds that while PlanAPP demonstrates promising characteristics of a BO, further development of citizen participation and boundary management activities is needed to fully realize its potential.

Fronika de Wit, Susana Sobral, Filipa Vala