People Fixing the World Folgen

There are no sewers in Haiti. 26% of Haitians have access to a toilet, so a lot of the sewage ends up in the water supply. Currently, Haiti is battling the biggest cholera epidemic in recent history and thousands are dying. We travel there to meet a team of women who are trying to solve this massive problem. They have set up an NGO called Soil which delivers dry, compost toilets to peoples’ homes. Alternatives to water guzzling flushing toilets - which need infrastructure such as sewers - are drastically needed in many parts of the world. And there’s a bonus to this scheme too.Also on the programme, a radical suggestion for airports: build circular runways. Are the current straight ones really the best way to take off and land?Presenter: Sahar Zand Reporters: Gemma Newby & Dougal Shaw Producer: Charlotte PritchardImage: The women of Haiti who work for the NGO Soil / Credit: BBC

Could we build cities using solar panels instead of walls? That’s the dream that Huang Ming, a wealthy entrepreneur in China’s Shandong province, has had since the 1980s. He’s become known as the ‘Sun King’ after building a vast solar park, including a showcase hotel, to prove a new kind of solar architecture is possible. So why hasn’t it caught on? We check into a room in the solar hotel and examine the vision and sometimes unfulfilled dreams of solar architecture in China. Plus, why do bins in Copenhagen have shelves built into them? Clue: it helps the city’s poorest people.Presenter: Mukul Devichand Reporters: Emma Wilson and Harriet Noble(Image: Huang Ming and his solar hotel, Credit: BBC)

An innovative housing project in Amsterdam is attempting a new way of integrating refugees into the local population. In prefab flats, refugees from the Syrian war live next door to young people in need of cheap rent. They eat together, learn language together, and develop the networks that researchers say are critical to successful integration.Presenter: Charlotte Pritchard Reporter: Jo MathysImage: Young people living in the Startblok / Credit: BBC