Episode · The Climate Question
Can technology help us fight flooding in cities?
19 Apr 2026 · 26 min
Episode notes
With more and more people moving to cities, informal settlements are expected to grow. When floods hit these unplanned places, it can be disastrous, as we often don’t know much about them. Crucial questions often remain difficult to answer, like how many people live there, what are the buildings made of, and could they withstand a flood? In the township of Alexandra in Johannesburg, the BBC’s Nomsa Maseko visits a project using drones and artificial intelligence to help authorities prevent the worst impacts of flooding. And in Porto Alegre in the south of Brazil, we hear how an innovative…
The Climate Question
by BBC World Service · English · Tech & Science
Why we find it so hard to save our own planet, and how we might change that.
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