Cool Air Itineraries and lslands in Paris

In the context of the strategy of adapting to climate change (2015) and of the new Paris Climate Plan (2018), the City of Paris asked Apur to define, locate and then make a map of the cool air itineraries and islands in Paris.

View of Boulevard Sebastopol seen from the Tour Saint Jacques - Paris © Apur – Julien Bigorgne

Cool air islands in Paris are places which are welcoming, where people can stop and rest, which are accessible to the general public and can be located as refreshing places in Paris during hot periods and heat waves. For the summer of 2018, over 800 cool air islands were located and accessible during the day and over 150 during the night:

  • 565 green and wooded spaces including gardens, parks, woods, cemeteries were colour coded according to their coolness (including 153 green spaces open at night);  
  • 36 bathing sites including swimming pools, aquatic centres, out-of-doors bathing sites;
  • 25 places with mist sprays and water games including water mirrors, and spray mists;
  • 150 establishments open to the public which are naturally cool such as churches and museums;
  • 46 establishments open to the public and cool including museums and libraries.

 
Cool itineraries in Paris are pedestrian walkways linking cool air islands during hot periods and heat waves, and where temperatures felt are cooler than nearby areas. These involve passages which are:

  • particularly wooded and/or greened;
  • particularly shaded by trees, buildings, awnings;
  • naturally cool underground areas such as pedestrian tunnels; 
  • directly alongside areas of water such as the Seine, canal and lake embankments, 
  • made with materials that to not retain heat or not much: pale colours, specifically thermal, permeable properties,…

 
Cool air itineraries are available to the general public in the form of dynamic maps on the paris.fr site where you can find a map of the daytime and one for the night time.

Parcours et îlots de fraîcheur à Paris en chiffres © Apur

Resources

Documents to download

  • Note

    Cool Air Itineraries and lslands in Paris

    Format : pdf, 6.69 MB
    Download

Maps to download

  • Map

    Cool air itineraries in Paris by day

    Format : pdf, 24.23 MB
    Download
  • Map

    Cool air itineraries in Paris by night

    Format : pdf, 20.76 MB
    Download