"Climate-Proofing" Project Enters Bold New Phase in Paris

...plus, quick recap of winners at Cannes, & new alcohol bans hit certain areas

A drawing of the “greened” Jardin du Trocadero, planned in two phases for 2024 and 2030. Credit: Gustafson Porter + Bowman Architects

Dear Subscribers,

As summer approaches and temperatures start to creep up, I’m initially jubilant about it like everyone else (after all, who doesn’t enjoy the first barefoot-in-the-park moment of the year?)

But as we head into July and August and brace for the now almost-inevitable, increasingly dangerous heatwaves, anxiety starts to creep in. For one, I lived through a terrifying heatwave in Paris in 2003— one that killed almost 15,000 people (many elderly and living in suffocating, top-floor “maid’s room” studios).

I even reported on the crisis as an intern for the Associated Press, witnessing how refrigerated trucks that were generally reserved for produce at the Rungis market were made into makeshift morgues, since bodies were literally piling up.

See, the Paris we know and love, largely built in the 19th century under the direction of the Baron Haussmann, is not designed for this sort of heat. Haussmann’s wide, grand boulevards didn’t allow for much green space. The buildings tend to conserve heat and turn into quasi-furnaces, especially at the top, since in the 19th century dying from cold was a much greater concern.

And while some wonderful public parks came to being during the period— namely the Romantic-style Buttes Chaumont and the Parc Monceau— only 9.5% of the capital is currently consecrated to parks and other green spaces— compared to 33% for London and an astounding 45% for Vienna. It’s well-known that green spaces help to combat overheating in urban centers, both through capturing ambient heat and CO2s.

Buttes-Chaumont park and its suspended footbridge/Courtney Traub

That’s why I’ve personally been cheered by controversial, ambitious plans by Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo to radically reshape Paris for the 21st century, making it more “climate resistant” by expanding green spaces and limiting pollution from cars, among other measures. Ultimately, the goal is to make Paris “carbon-neutral” by 2050.