Paris Plages, sun shelters, places to bathe in the Seine, the City of Paris increases actions to try and bring some freshness to the city. But will it be enough as temperatures rise year after year with scorching summers? This past July, France and Paris have been suffocating because of the impressive heat that broke records, with over 40 degrees Celsius in the Parisian streets. In a decade’s time, ten extra degrees are expected and the city has to anticipate it.
In early July, the Council of Paris set up an information mission called “Paris à 50 degrés” expected to work on adapting the city to this likely scenario within ten years. According to deputy mayor Dan Lert, climate forecasts for the city show “heatwaves will be more and more common and even more intense, and more and more early or late”. And this escalating is on its way already.
Summer 2023 will be exceptional and its weather will quickly become standards, and people will have to get used to. As a matter of fact, there will be three times more tropical nights within 8 years, which will make the city’s climate similar to the climate in Sevilla. This is a public health priority as Paris is likely to become unbearable for the most vulnerable people with 50 degrees Celsius in the shadow.
At the moment, the city is far from being able to face it with disturbances in public transport, classrooms shutting down and lots of malfunctions. According to Paris advisor Alexandre Florentin, “we will have to review colors and materials used for buildings roofs, transforming attic flats into furnaces”. Over time, the surface covered in asphalt will have to be reduced. In Paris, the average temperature since the preindustrial era has increased by 2.3 degrees… so far.
