Case study

Paris Oasis Schoolyards programme

Area characterisation:

Paris is vulnerable to flooding from the Seine river. It is also a compact mineral city, increasingly subject to the heat island effect. Unpaving, greening and planting trees are thus real challenges and absolute necessities. Fortunately, implanting refreshing pockets of nature on permeabilized soil is made possible by the globally dense and homogeneous repartition of schoolyards. This is just what this project aims at, together with more education- and climate security-oriented purposes.The “Oasis” Schoolyards programme takes place in the wider framework of Paris’ Resilience Strategy. As such, it also attempts to meet the local requirements of socio-spatial inclusion, public environmental health and climate change mitigation.

Objective:

  • Reduce the local heat island effect
  • Provide pupils with a healthy and stimulating learning environment
  • Educate residents to risk culture on climate change
  • Make refuges of freshness available to the most vulnerable populations
  • Create numerous meeting spaces to spur conviviality and solidarity
Start/end date:

Images

Nursery school, 12 rue de Torcy (18th arr., Paris). Planning references, photos by O. Brumard and F. Renard (DEVE-SA)

Nursery school, 12 rue de Torcy (18th arr., Paris). Planning references, photos by O. Brumard and F. Renard (DEVE-SA)

Primary school Louis Blanc (10th arr., Paris). Planning references, photos by O. Brumard and F. Renard (DEVE-SA)

Schematic representation of an impervious vegetable garden

Financing:

The Municipality of Paris funds the project.

Potential impacts/benefits:

Challenges

/goals

Enhancing

sustainable

urbanisation

Restoring

ecosystems and

their functions

Developing

climate change

mitigation

Developing

climate change

adaptation;

improving risk

management

and resilience

 

 

 

 

 

Challenge 1 :

Air/ambient

quality (to

reduce UHI

effect and/or

to improve

air/ambient

quality)

Improve air

quality.

 

 

Reducing

temperature at

meso or micro

scale.

 

 

 

 

 

Challenge 2 :

Climate

resilience

Increase

population &

infrastructures

protected by NbS.

 

 

Reduce droughtrisk.

 

Reduce flood risk.

 

Reduce risk of damages from drought.

 

 

 

 

 

Challenge 3 :

Water

management

Improve water

quality.

 

 

Increase

infiltration /

Water storage.

 

Reduce load to

sewer system.

Reduce run-off.

 

Flood peak

reduction.

 

 

 

 

 

Challenge 4 :

Public health

and well-being

Increase well-being.

 

Provision of

health benefits.

 

Increase

accessibility to

green open

spaces.

 

Changing image of the urban environment.

 

Carbon 

sequestration

and storage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Challenge 5 :

Green space

management

(including

enhancing/

conserving

urban

biodiversity)

 

Increase Biodiversity.

 

Increase achievements of biodiversity targets.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Challenge 6 :

Social justice

and social

cohesion

Increase social

 interaction

 

Increase

communities’ sense of ownership.

 

Social inclusion

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Challenge 7 :

Participatory

Planning and

Governance

Social learning

about location &

importance of NbS.

 

Increase stakeholder

awareness &

knowledge about NbS.

 

Increase awareness of NbS solution & their effectiveness and co benefits.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Challenge 8 :

Urban

regeneration

Increase amount

of green open

spaces for residents.

Increased cultural

richness and biodiversity

 

 

Actions:

  • By using a light-coloured, low carbon footprint substrate with a modular porosity on schoolyards grounds, the latter are expected to be much cooler.
  • The ground’s cooling effect will be enhanced with the additional use of rainwater, by evapotranspiration. Furthermore, it is to be reusable for water games or school gardening too.
  • The increase of trees, school gardens, green walls and roofs and the shade they provide will also help to locally temper with heat waves. Moreover, several vegetable gardens should contribute as well to the children’s environmental awareness.
  • Artificial installations are integrated to renaturation project, for shade houses will punctually supplement the other infrastructures. Combined with various cooling techniques and kinetic energy collection infrastructures on playgrounds, they are aimed at cooling down schools and reducing their energy consumption.

Transferability of result:

The results of this programme can be transposed to cities who want to:

  • Adapt cities to climate change by an urban and natural development:
    • Choose urban development considering NbS for social and climate challenges o Anticipate the evolution of urban infrastructure: consider NbS in face of repeated heat waves
  • Organize a participative management

Lessons learnt:

Process:

  • Integrated vision in response to various urban vulnerabilities
  • Inclusive approach of residents, public institutions and private sector
  • Share ideas and innovations from their cities

Objectives:

  • Ability to think systemically in order to multiply the benefits
  • Flexibility: natural and modular spaces and facilities capable of accommodating uses

Organisations:

Mairie de Paris (Paris city council) and affiliated services, town halls of the concerned arrondissements of Paris, Education Nationale (national education).

Client:

Mairie de Paris

Design team:

Sébastien Maire, Chief Resilience Officer for the City of Paris

Contacts:

Sebastien Maire sebastien.maire@paris.fr

Fompeyrine, Noemie noemie.fompeyrine@paris.fr

NBS goals:

  • Enhancing sustainable urbanization
  • Developing climate change mitigation
  • Improving risk management and resilience
  • Urban regeneration through nature-based solutions
  • Nature-based solutions for improving well-being in urban areas

NBS benefits:

  • Developing climate change adaptation; improving risk management and resilience
  • Flood peak reduction
  • Increase infiltration / Water storage
  • Reduce drought risk
  • Reduce flood risk
  • Reduce load to sewer system
  • Reduce risk of damages from drought
  • Reduce run-off
  • Reducing temperature at meso or micro scale
  • Developing climate change mitigation
  • Carbon sequestration and storage
  • Restoring ecosystems and their functions
  • Increase achievements of biodiversity targets
  • Increase Biodiversity
  • Increased cultural richness and biodiversity
  • Enhancing sustainable urbanisation
  • Changing image of the urban environment
  • Improve air quality
  • Improve water quality
  • Increase accessibility to green open spaces
  • Increase amount of green open spaces for residents
  • Increase awareness of NBS solution & their effectiveness and co benefits
  • Increase communities’ sense of ownership
  • Increase population & infrastructures protected by NBS
  • Increase social interaction
  • Increase stakeholder awareness & knowledge about NBS
  • Increase well-being
  • Provision of health benefits
  • Social inclusion

Publications and reports:

  • Mairie de Paris (2017, October), Action 10 : Transformer les cours d’écoles en « oasis », véritables îlots de fraîcheur (p.67), Stratégie de Résilience de Paris, paris.fr , Retrieved March 2018, from https://api-site-cdn.paris.fr/images/95335
  • GARAT Henri, Mairie de Paris, « Oasis » Schoolyards [not available online yet]