Welcome back to the Port Porel's Almanac. This is Andy, and today we're joined by Dr. Maria Ruska, a senior lecturer in global development

at the University of Manchester. She's known for her extensive research on urban inequalities

and environmental governance. In this episode, we dive into several pressing issues that are crucial

for understanding and addressing the challenges posed by climate change, particularly around water

and urban areas. With her background and research across much of places like Africa and Asia,

we explore different socioeconomic disparities that shape the vulnerabilities and resilience

of different communities during extreme climate events.

Through this lens, we can explore the necessity of equitable urban planning to ensure

sustainability and resilience in the face of climate change. This ultimately boils down to how will this

affect us in the future with climate change. What should we be paying attention to today in order

to prepare for the future that's coming? With all this in mind, I think you'll really enjoy this

conversation. So go take a listen and let us know what you think.

Maria, thank you for joining us. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your research?

Absolutely. And thank you very much for having me here. My name is Maria Ruska and I'm a senior lecturer

in global development at the University of Manchester. And my work focuses mostly on some

pressing development issues of we face today,

things like climate change, urban inequalities, actually also within that gendered access to basic

services like water and sanitation, and then looking at the intersection between gender and

environmental governance.

And I mostly do so by focusing on urban areas.

My research has mostly focused on cities in sub-surin Africa.

I started my journey over 10 years ago, actually, in Lelangwe, a beautiful city,

...