the Metropolis of Lyon greens streets and schoolyards to lower the temperature

At the foot of the Part-Dieu towers in Lyon, where the thermometer will exceed 30 degrees on Wednesday May 18 due to a heat wave, rue Garibaldi looks like an oasis. It was an urban highway ten years ago. The former municipality of Collomb covered it and planted trees. “It’s much more pleasing to the eye. And the greenery still provides some cooling, shade, welcomes a local resident. VSIt’s nice to be a pedestrian in this area, but that said, it’s not enough. The sun which beats in May as in the middle of summer, it is a little worrying.

At the helm of the town hall for two years, environmentalists have put an end to projects for new towers and concrete slabs. All landscaping must now be vegetated. Make way for fountains and misters. “We plant very densely, 1,600 trees each year, explains Nicolas Husson, biodiversity assistant. Which is still quite substantial since we arrive at around 10,000 trees at the end of the mandate, which represents close to 20% of the trees in the city.

“When you plant trees, the surface of the ground reflects less heat. So the drop in temperature can be very significant, up to ten degrees compared to a place where there are no trees” .

Nicolas Husson, Biodiversity Assistant at the Lyon City Hall

at franceinfo

According to the elected official, this lowering of temperature is still felt, even in the evening and during the night“since the soils did not warm up, did not store heat during the day.”

In Villeurbanne, in the metropolis of Lyon, priority is given to the 25 schools in the city. With his revegetation plan, the socialist mayor Cédric Van Styvendael wants a less mineral school environment : “This aims to demolish schoolyards: remove the bitumen, put plantations in their place, offer trees. But it is also a way of reconfiguring schoolyards so that each child, in the end, also finds a place of activities. So at the same time we bring shade, freshness and also different modes of activity for the children in our school groups”.

“We can talk about a temperature that varies from 5 to 10 degrees depending on the coverings that are chosen on the ground and depending on the place of the green space that is left. This has a real impact on the heat felt and on the the reverberation of the ground.”

Cédric Van Styvendael, Mayor of Villeurbanne

at franceinfo

Faced with this spring with already summer temperatures – a phenomenon that is repeated from year to year – the metropolis is also testing an anti-heat paint. In the furnace of Lyon, nothing is neglected.