doubt. our documentary depicts the contrasts of everyday life. and help people cope with. iran bittersweet. starts in a second g.w. . welcome to global three thousand today we're going to take a look at life in cities urban centers of booming particularly those in asia and africa. half the world's population now lives in cities have figured it's forecast to hit two thirds by twenty fifty and already there's a serious lack of decent affordable living space.

one impressive example of affordable living is the foot in the world's first social housing estate it was built way back in fifteen twenty one by one of the city's wealthy citizens to provide homes for those in need since then state run organizations and charitable institutions worldwide have invested in countless affordable housing projects increasingly the governments are distancing themselves from this social responsibility and they're relying on private enterprise to meet the needs. this is my. world through my. jewson hole has turned square meters cost around one thousand euros per month. not much room in here. and what about washing your feet in the shower that's pretty tricky. so of course

this. this. doesn't have much alternative right now it all started when he fell into a depression after his divorce. he was too will to continue working as a catering manager and soon he couldn't pay his rent at first he camped out on friends sofas then he was homeless for a while before being offered a room by social services then he shares the rundown house and south london with five other men the state pays all their rents. must be getting about five and a half thousand pounds to see almost coming closer six thousand pounds a month what used to be a two bedroom house this is only. three hundred pounds less than what it was being a for chitral housing back and this cannot be valid for many. the british

government pours around twenty five billion euros a year into rent subsidies but world record much of it goes on exorbitant rents like jane you sons some landlords hike their prices if they know the state is paying. free market britain has long neglected social housing hard to imagine it was once the nation's pride with around two hundred fifty thousand homes built per year in twenty seventeen there were just three thousand left and that despite a rise in need. the government has just announced a new initiative but experts are skeptical demand they say is simply too high the biggest improvement is the fact that people are moving out of london if we could make things better in the rest of the country so that people felt they were getting what they wanted when that would be probably better if dealing with it. but

in reality london's population increases by around one hundred twenty thousand people each year landlords can rent out flats fast regardless of how rundown or how she could they are but if you want three rooms you'll have to splash out up to eight thousand euros per week and those who can't afford that have to be flexible like emily and ben they're both employed and work in marketing but they still can't afford to rent a flat in the capital for a year they've lived on a boat and change moorings every two weeks to avoid paying fees despite this it's a huge improvement on how things used to be. no shared accommodation for the people and we paid around one thousand one hundred for that yes for a double room per month and then shared obviously bathroom a share the toilets and it believed it was not even the living room in our living room was also a bedroom so we get along on internet as much money as they can on the property.

and that's what the london renters union is fighting the newly founded association campaigns for unlimited rental contrasts a cap on rents and more social housing they hand the landlord's union a symbolic check for twenty two billion pounds which is roughly what the capital's tenants will spend on their accommodation over the coming year. there then was i think that was more thorough and i don't think anything's happened in that e-mail and i must keep it safe and if we got back to the students i've known them for conditions evangelists have the same. i'm very defensive i don't think i was so damn good and he was she was like my sister was heard by accommodation may be a basic human right yet in reality and britain tenants are second class citizens owning your own four walls has long been seen as the norm here and that means no

home no castle of your own and you have no rights that's still the case today tenants are often confronted with the vermin water damage and landlords who simply don't care that's something jason knows well tenants here can be given two months notice no reason necessary he's supposed to move out next week but he's still hoping his appeal will be accepted and he won't have to leave. it's a struggle every single day in different ways because i'm devoting my time to sort this out and. the other aspects of my life is being compromised emily and ben want to stay in london for work reasons they've transformed that desperate situation into a lifestyle choice where they don't have a castle but they do have a boat the borg it cost them three hundred fifty euros a month it's romantic here and of course mobile usually anyway.

last winter they can i was very sick and you could a made so we ran out of water a run out of gas like oil it was for yes so you've basically just got somewhere to sleep and yeah and you've got no i mean it is that said if winter is the worst hardship they face then emily and ben are the lucky ones. africa's population is skyrocketing by twenty fifty projections say they'll be twice as many people living on the continent as there are now and more and more of them are streaming into urban areas looking for work and better living conditions cities in africa a growing faster than in any. other region in the world the population boom means that in the next thirty years the continent will need around eighty five thousand here hospitals three hundred ten thousand schools and seven hundred million new apartments but who's going to build them and how.

millions of africans live in informal settlements like this one in kigali. populations in africa's cities are exploding and the continent is struggling to cope. and architects from a wanda christian man now wants africa's booming cities to flourish when the settlements are on the front where it gets difficult to reverse those trends in front of the government of rwanda is doing a lot of efforts to provide basic services for the residents of such neighborhoods to make sure because living in safe clean neighborhoods but more citizen africa firsts with the same charges. from lagos to kinshasa to nairobi governments are unable to manage urbanization and those moving to the city often can't afford to build proper housing or pay expensive rent so slums. rwanda is well aware of the critical situation we are trying to establish the friend program and you know from the social program but also moving towards or to train to prepare the ground for

the current government is very much committed to promoting access to housing but recent housing projects in p. galley were more suited to the upper middle class fordable solutions for the masses are still missing like many monitors training a future generation of african designers to find innovative sustainable and affordable solutions to the enormous need for infrastructure not only houses but hospitals and schools here in the northeast of rwanda a new primary school is being built using as much local material as possible. to for good quality bricks and the building. and you read in nicely that there's also this idea that the basic materials and tools for the destruction in africa cannot be built in the middle got to it and you ought to for all. the thirty seven year old convince the government that building with bricks volcanic rock and locally made roof tiles is cheaper than importing expensive materials and that it's

worthwhile investing in local craftsman earlier more doors away people will bring in called specialized constructors to build things and lead that haven't been successful so by visiting in these people there's a chance that this could build up we could also use the idea here and if this report to migrate to other districts in the country it's much more efficient than getting chinese contract as a turkish conflict as any man has studied in china where he saw megacities grow along with the challenges that come with them today he's the director of the african design center which opened in kigali two years ago. eleven design graduates from eight african countries are learning here how to take on the challenge of africa's enormous growth. we're trying to understand the real problems that we're facing and not just browsing for statistical data and say we need x. amount of housing but people understand what that housing need for the residents of africa all those african cities often urban living or does africa. for most

africans urban living still means enduring slum conditions many manas says there's a need for this new generation of african designers to come up with solutions for schooling it's a strong belief in the things that we have to fear a child in this country and in this continent to do things right at this particular moment can africa rise to that challenge christian benny mana and others are trying to make it happen. urban planning is a huge challenge how many cities can the climate cope with and what about human health according to the u.n. and pollution now contributes to the deaths of four million people a year so how can we keep the air in major population centers clean. cities have always had

a strong appeal they offer medical care educational and job opportunities infrastructure and cultural institutions and other attractions is anything lacking at all yes nature but why do we need green spaces in cities. for food for example with so many people in cities it makes sense to produce food there urban gardening is popular lettuce herbs and other easy to grow greens are being cultivated on rooftops or in small plots. but not every part of the city is suitable play. ants that grow alongside busy streets are exposed to pollution. urban green spaces can impact the climate cities account for seventy percent of global c o two emissions bad for the planet and its residents. green leafy plants absorb carbon dioxide and produce oxygen. and trees and

other vegetation help regulate the urban temperature they provide shade and cooling three that for ration. plants and unpaved soil absorb water when it rains heavily our rivers overflow. and parks are places where we can rest and relax. but we're not alone lots of animals have adapted to city life or even to eling animals often have it better than their country cousins but only if they have access to plenty of green areas and trees. many wild plants have also adjusted well to the urban jungle but they still require unpaved areas in order to grow. so green spaces in a city are good for the quality of life of all its inhabitants.

in twenty ten there were already more than one billion cars on our planet and by twenty foreseen that could be as many as two billion and that even though congestion is already a huge problem in fact in some cities drivers spend more than two hundred hours a year stuck in traffic jams many chinese cities have major problems but alternatives are making a comeback. this is what beijing looks like some twenty years ago china then was called the kingdom of bicycles that planners had a different idea. for decades they did everything they could to make beijing car friendly around six million vehicles now clogged roads and highways and the kingdom of bicycles has become the capital of traffic jams. then two years ago colorful. rental bikes suddenly began appearing everywhere all

you need to use one briefly is the app and they cost less than thirty euro cents per hour so anyone with a smart phone can now find the bike practically anywhere i went to find out if the new technology is encouraging people to get out of their cars. mo bike was the first bike sharing company it launched in twenty sixteen and now claims to have two hundred million users worldwide and there's a battle. at first there was cutthroat competition there were over one hundred companies on the market and now there are just three or four left in you and you're not making a profit yet but we're getting there bit by bit of our results in september were extraordinarily good i can tell you that much as i would have got to get some help with. one of my first questions

how much are the rental bikes really being used. to some muscle when do you rent a bicycle. to do yeah well if i don't have to go more than twenty kilometers. i might go that far most beijing residents use the bikes for much shorter distances for the so-called last mile from the subway to their office or home for the first time in quite a while the number of bike journeys is growing zoned out that's devices the chinese ministry of transport on behalf of the german government does far off unified that that was the positive effect of all the various bike sharing company i seeing them and us and officials started rethinking things in the cities and instant governments and it's a big discussion in many urban areas today all over the world the question of how

we can get people to enjoy riding by ascot. most roads in beijing have a bike lane like this and we're going to take a look now in what condition they are. this one is nice and why then pretty comfortable to ride on even if there are. a couple of obstacles along the way i just managed to squeeze past one car making a turn and there's another issue too many vehicles stop or park on the bike path then you have to swerve into the car lane so a less than perfect situation. and there are other negative aspects to bike sharing like the numbers of rental bikes cluttering up streets and sidewalks or storage is now often just pile them up onto

what looked like scrap heap since. the bikes the city administration has cleared are now unloaded here on the fringes of the capital every major chinese city has bicycles cemeteries like this one the remaining rental companies have to take back some of them nobody knows what will happen to the rest. more bike is grappling with new regulations for bike sharing in the city seven hundred fifty thousand of its bikes can be found on the streets of beijing the government won't allow them to deploy more on peak days their bikes can wreck up two million trips. or so i think many new business models need a phase of irrational competition but in the future this industry will become extremely environmentally friendly and sustainable. every ride is recorded by this

system not only knows how many of its bikes are being used it also has to be able to tell at a given moment where each is located just like. the way that all rental bicycle companies now have to install live monitoring systems for their data from them is also transmitted in tandem to the government. but people like mr doom are even more important he collects scattered rental bikes driving around the streets of john one town where beijing's young i.t. industry is located and loading them up. mr don't brings them back to places where they need it. like subway stations don't want to and sees many young commuters and the subway is the hot spot for bike sharing the bike collector came to beijing from his village just a year ago he gets paid by the day for his labor in

a month he can earn about six hundred euros that's about half the average wage. i've got back now i'm in the morning as the busiest time by then everyone is in their offices the bikes are all over the place. i fill up my truck every few minutes. our rental biogs really the solution to beijing's traffic problems to find out more i take a detour in the history. district as the city modernized the old town became a symbol for backwardness for the old and the poor who lived here bicycles were a common means of transport today the charms of the old town are being rediscovered by young people and what about bikes this small shop wants to show the people of beijing that cycling can be fun customers can design their own bikes here to the i should go that you can take any color you want. if you case even see which one you like solo though did the cave. cinna. and some customers

rediscover cycling through riding rental bikes and they use them but they don't find them comfortable enough too small they don't have enough gears or only suitable for short distances and many rental bikes are in fat condition and are poorly maintained no one will use after writing one until bikes however people decide they want to buy one of their own and slowly but surely the bicycle culture is reemerging my legal court so bike sharing has acted as a catalyst helping beijing residents rediscover an important means of transport from the past now all that's needed is a sustainable plan for the traffic of the future. in creating an environmentally friendly transport system for the future and not to all depend on the efficiency of local systems and how different types of transport

interconnect app developers around the globe a busy looking for solutions which particular success in life you any of you. giving me nasty that just lives in vilnius the capital of lithuania he doesn't need a car of his own he just uses the traffic yeah it pinpoint his location and supplies him with information on the most convenient public transport services available nearby complete with timetables and connections he can also use the app for bicycle and car sharing schemes and he can pay for all these services via the app to. deliver to us uses his app every day. yeah i think many people are using tracking the newest and not just in general and it's especially popular amongst younger generation. the app was developed by a local startup the team program to map that compiles and centrally coordinates

data. all of vilnius is transport services including taxis. it's free for users. companies like google maps also use the technology. that's where the startup makes most of its money. it's now available in thirty cities worldwide from istanbul to jakarta to sao paulo. reason to go there was to solve their problems and those when i guess it is because we knew that transportation is some predictable on reliable it's even hard for local people to understand how this system works and we wanted to launch that product and those big megacities to help them to make easier everyday life today. the authorities in jakarta gave traffic access to all the g.p.s. data gathered by its public transport systems home to over thirty million people

it's one of the most densely populated cities in the world there's no subway system those without a car checked the bus the app provides detailed information the biggest challenge is to properly process the g.p.s. signals and very nicely show that on the map hol actually recall is more so and wasn't e.t.a. expected time of arrival to the bus stops old that takes quite a lot of efforts and we've been doing this for twelve years and we still keep updating and i'm dating can improving the algorithms who does that. if taking the bus could be planned more efficiently more people would ditch their cars that's the theory anyway it remains to be seen if they really will twenty percent of people in vilnius use the traffic gap but it only has a population of five hundred fifty thousand and a relatively modest public transport system. in the future cities control that one believed right there was going to be

a lot of vehicles so city will have a platform where deal will be able to see old meant in the city and they will be even able to control that control parking slots control licenses who was driving in the city who is not to know and which which not. logistics services critics might worry about privacy issues but the mayor of vilnius has no such qualms he has a radical open data policy and is already incorporated. rafi's did a pull into the cities or been planning. you saw the balloons they. draw conclusions whether to invest more like for example to the saloons or to adapt some of the sunspots routes or to find some other solutions i think it's still an initial stage we're going through if you think this kind of big data analysis is a very important for any city without it i think the planning of the searchers improvement. although there is undeniable concern that the system can be hijacked

for ulterior motives big data can help find public transport to people's needs. and that's all from global three thousand this week do drop us a line global three thousand at d w dot com oh check us out on facebook. see you saying take cash.

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