Green space in every schoolyard: the radical plan to cool Paris

[Judi Lynn]

Megan Clement in Paris
Thu 16 Aug 2018 05.30 EDT

Playground oases could benefit students and city alike, but will making them public prove too controversial in a city on high alert?

It’s only 10am but the heat is already radiating off the asphalt at the École Riblette, a primary school on the outskirts of Paris. Sébastien Maire, the city’s chief resilience officer, points to the school’s lower courtyard, a classic heat trap: surrounded by concrete walls that reflect sunlight inside. Last June, the courtyard hit 55C (131F).

“For three days, school activities stopped,” Maire says. “It was not possible for the children to study, nor to go into the schoolyard. We would forbid them because it’s 55 degrees – you can fry an egg on the ground.”

The École Riblette is now a guinea pig for Project Oasis, a plan to convert the concrete schoolyards of Paris into “islands of cool”. The goal is to provide respite in periods of extreme heat, and perhaps even bring down temperatures across a city with a desperate shortage of green space. Just is given over to parks and gardens – the lowest proportion of any European city. (By comparison, London boasts 33% green space and Madrid 35%.)

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/aug/16/could-greening-every-paris-schoolyard-cool-the-city

[hunter]

1. The first elementary school I attended grades K-3...

... had a 100% asphalt playground.

There were black rubber mats under the "jungle gym," which happened to include one of the earlier Buckminster Fuller inspired geodesic dome playground structures. It was hot dangerous place, skinned knees and sunburn for the three seasons it doesn't rain in Southern California.

My kids grew up attending schools that have large grass play areas.

The elementary school they attended now has solar panels, the same sort you'd find over parking lots, shading most of the asphalt playground but the basketball courts. I think this is a wonderful thing. Kids can eat lunch and play outside in the shade. But trees might have been even nicer.