As part of its partnership programme , since 2007 Apur has been working on the phenomenon of urban heat islands (UHI in the rest of the document).
The work in progress has two aims: to improve understanding and to experiment with new ways of managing the problem.
1/ Improving understanding: in partnership with various research laboratories (Météo-France, Paris-Diderot, etc.), Apur is collecting and formulating the elements forming the basis of our understanding of urban heat islands: how does the material used for surfacing roads affect the ambient air temperature? Do the shape and form of urban Parisian housing have an influence on the degree of comfort indoors? etc.
2/ Experiment: in partnership with several departments of the City of Paris (DVD, DPE, DEVE, DU, etc), Apur is taking part in an in situ experiment concerning ways of adapting to climate change: refreshing public space by spraying with water, monitoring the thermal behaviour of both normal and new materials in trial streets, etc.
In order to meet the objectives of the Climate Plan for Paris, solutions will need to be found so that the city can adapt to climate change. Even though the phenomena of heat islands have been fairly thoroughly documented scientifically, this documentation remains too qualitative and for the most part inadequate to serve as a basis from which to reform current practices of public space management