The market reading taught me that the poor in rural and urban areas rely on the environment for their livelihood. Some of my biggest takeaways from the reading are that assets include natural capital, social capital, human capital, and physical capital. Poverty does not necessarily lead to environmental degradation and building partnerships with local communities is a new endeavor for many government agencies. Policy-makers can be constrained by certain global forces and market development should be gradual. Poor people suffer from inefficient transportation systems in urban areas and improved governance is an important vehicle for achieving reduced poverty and better social equity. Poverty is also a set of relationships. 

From the wicked problems website, I learned that humans are part of the environment and are not just observers. I learned that wicked problems are problems worth solving and they are a problem that is difficult to solve. Wicked problems have no definitive formula and solutions to wicked problems can either be good or bad, not true or false. There is always more than one explanation for a wicked problem and every problem is unique. 

The current state analysis allows people to come up with scenarios that are plausible futures. Visions are desirable and sustainable futures. We can focus on where we are by looking at our current state and then use sustainable development strategies to see how we can get there. We can also look at future scenarios to see where we are headed and look at a vision sustainable system to see where we want to go. I think using future scenarios analysis is a good idea because it considers alternative possible outcomes and the future outcomes are observable. 

Social entrepreneurship is an approach by start-up companies and entrepreneurs where they try to develop solutions to social, cultural, or environmental issues. TOMS is a company that is a social enterprise. They match every pair of shoes purchased with a pair of new shoes for a child in need. TOMS shoes worked as a way to take compassionate action and revolutionize corporate sustainability. 

The problem I will attempt to address is the problem of material usage in housing and how it is going to waste. Builders, construction teams, and designers can buy used and recycled products and this will help alleviate the problem. Designing a building for support adaptation, disassembly, and reuse can reduce waste and extend its useful life. This will also provide economic and environmental benefits for builders, owners, and the communities.