oasis<\/a>, aims not only to cool down the overheated playgrounds, but also to provide much-needed greenery in a neighborhood where less than two square meters of public green space are available per resident \u2014 far below the world health organization’s recommended nine.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\nat the joliot curie primary school, the transformation is striking. gone is the heat-absorbing sea of asphalt that would often send playground temperatures soaring past 40\u00b0c, making it dangerous for children to play outside. in its place are bushes, newly planted trees, and strategically placed benches to enjoy the vital shade. a thick beige cover has replaced the concrete, reflecting heat and cooling the air in the process. according to fabien benoit, a city official overseeing the project, temperatures in the renovated courtyards have dropped by 2 to 4\u00b0c, also cooling the surrounding school buildings.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\nthe joliot curie playground, before (left) and after (right) renovations. (juliette fekkar)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nteachers and the educational staff were invited to co-create the new schoolyards through brainstorming sessions and design proposals. \u201cthe point isn\u2019t to copy-paste generic green playgrounds,\u201d said benoit. \u201ceach school has different needs, and the school staff is best equipped to know what their needs are.\u201d in true participatory fashion, one school included their fifth graders in the process \u2014 asking them to draw their ideal schoolyard, and pick between different possible infrastructures.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\nbut compromises weren’t always easy. in the case of joliot curie, some teachers initially resisted the removal of popular football fields to make room for greenery, leading to two months of discussion between the school and the city. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\nto further build community support, the schools also open their doors to the public once a year, offering a glimpse into the transformation. on a recent visit, gaelle meynadier, whose five-year-old attends joliot curie, shared her relief that the once sweltering space now stays cooler. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cmy kid often complained about being too hot at school, and there was nothing we could do about it. as a parent, that was truly worrying,\u201d she said as she walked through the redesigned courtyard. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
the city organizes visits of the renovated playgrounds for parents and locals. (juliette fekkar)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\ndespite the generally positive feedback, not all aspects of the plan have been embraced. \u201ca few parents expressed frustration over muddy shoes and coats,\u201d the school\u2019s headmaster sandra chamak said. \u201cbut there have been much less accidents since the renovation, which brought parents on board.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\nthe renovations in aubervilliers are part of a broader trend across france. paris started to experiment back in 2014, followed more recently by other big cities like bordeaux, lyon, and toulouse. in aubervilliers, the project started in 2022 and has now revamped six schoolyards, removing nearly 3,000 square meters of asphalt. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\nrenovated schoolyards includes educational gardens. (juliette fekkar)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nand these new courtyards don\u2019t just reduce heat. \u201cthey\u2019re also a network of biodiversity havens that help bring back bees and butterflies that we don\u2019t see anywhere else in the city,\u201d benoit said. for him, the newly planted vegetation will allow for miniature ecosystems to thrive in the otherwise stark urban landscape. each school now includes educational gardens, where children can learn about gardening and have \u2018class in the grass\u2019. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cthe kids love to learn more about nature,\u201d said roseline ricco, a third-grade teacher, as she pointed to a basket of hazelnuts, freshly picked from the school\u2019s garden, sitting proudly in the centre of her classroom. \u201cthe garden has sparked the children’s interest, leading to wider conversations about food, plants\u2026\u201d this week, her students compared the unevenly sized apples they picked from the garden with the uniform ones sold in supermarkets, and some even spent time sketching their favorite leaves.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
a basket of hazelnuts sits in the third-graders’ classroom, next to their drawings of leaves. (juliette fekkar)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nthe new schoolyards are also intended to be multifunctional. aiming to \u201cde-gender\u201d the playground, the city has replaced single-use structures like football fields, often taken-over by boys, with more diverse sports markings, encouraging a wider range of activities.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\nbut greening the schoolyards doesn\u2019t come cheap. according to spending records obtained from the city, aubervilliers has allocated \u20ac1.3 million to transform just two schools during the summer of 2024, and with it being one of the poorest cities in france, the local government has been careful to balance costs with its ambitions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cwe can only afford to do two schools a year,\u201d said zakia bouzidi, the deputy mayor in charge of the environment. \u201cit\u2019s a slow process, but it\u2019s great progress nonetheless.\u201d aubervilliers\u2019 schoolyard transformations are entirely funded by the municipality, though they are still awaiting state aid. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\nhowever, the current plan is limited to preschools and primary schools, which fall under the city’s jurisdiction. the department and the region, which manage middle and high schools, are working on developing a comparable project, set to launch next year. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
green spaces were created in the joliot curie playground. (juliette fekkar)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nwhile these green oases were initially designed for schoolchildren, the city plans to extend their benefits to the wider public. starting in 2025, some renovated schoolyards will be opened to the public during weekends and school holidays, offering residents of all ages a place to cool off during extreme heat. this initiative, which is still in its early experimental phase, could dramatically increase access to green spaces for thousands of residents in this low-income suburb, where many live in poorly insulated \u201ckettle apartments\u201d with no air conditioning. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\nbut opening up schools isn\u2019t an easy task. concerns around security and the added costs of maintenance are still being discussed by city staff, while the local council\u2019s opposition worries the initiative could lead to substantial wear and tear on playgrounds. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\nfor katia boutakhednit, headmaster of the jacques pr\u00e9vert kindergarten, \u201cthis project makes a real difference in improving the children\u2019s quality of life \u2014 but it also doesn\u2019t magically solve everything.\u201d her schoolyard, in the process of being renovated, is trapped between high rise social housing buildings. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
the jacques pr\u00e9vert schoolyard is trapped between high rise buildings. (juliette fekkar)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nbut the schoolyards \u201caren\u2019t the only thing changing in aubervilliers,\u201d bouzidi said. \u201cthey are just one part of the colossal work that is greening the city as a whole.\u201d for now, the town\u2019s focus remains on creating green spaces where they\u2019re needed most. as france braces for more scorching summers, these playgrounds offer a glimpse of what urban adaptation to climate change can look like \u2014 one playground at a time.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"as urban areas are increasingly affected by climate change, cities like aubervilliers in france are greening schoolyards to decrease temperatures.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23827,"featured_media":42962,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4905,4916],"tags":[],"storyfest_categories":[],"class_list":["post-42976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adaptation","category-climate"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
in a paris suburb, greener schoolyards beat the heat - planet forward<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n