Renting a small attic, a chambre de bonne (former maids' quarters), may be tempting for the newcomer who is cultivating the romantic idea of Paris. Apart from the price, often abusive, and the probable absence of an elevator, you must take into account that, in summer, the passenger compartment will become a real oven. Dream glamor can turn into a suffocating nightmare.
A study published last week by the scientific journal The Lancet Planetary Health, which analyzed data from 854 cities with more than 50,000 inhabitants in 30 European countries, during the period 2000-2019, concluded that the risk of dying from heat in Paris, especially for the elderly, it is the highest among the cities of the continent.
The population structure, the high urban density and the conditions of private homes, in which air conditioning is still a rarity, can explain the dangers of Paris during the heat waves, which are increasingly frequent and prolonged. In the City of Light, as in other large cities, there is a large segment of elderly inhabitants and quite numerous marginal classes. Both groups are more vulnerable to weather extremes. The study warns that when temperatures are abnormally high, mortality among those over 85 years of age increases by 60%.
The Lancet Planetary Health research took into account the deadly heat of the summer of 2003, a national catastrophe. It is estimated that almost 20,000 people could have died throughout France from pathologies derived from the torrid environment. Since then it has been verified that the excess mortality registered in the months of August is double in Paris than in the rest of the country. Other European capitals such as London or Amsterdam also come out badly in the study, which confirms the difficulties of large metropolises as climate change worsens.
Parisian municipal authorities have long been aware of the need to prepare to withstand periodic heat waves. A few days ago the report "Paris at 50 degrees Celsius" was presented, which includes 85 recommendations. The editors state that "another urban model must be designed" to ensure that the city is habitable in the medium term. Among the measures proposed are the thermal insulation of the buildings, the drastic increase in the greening of the streets -with more trees and shrubs- and the facades, as well as painting the roofs in light colors and locating small gardens on the roofs. One of the ideas is to offer gardening courses to Parisians and distribute kits so that they can put them into practice. Paris registered a maximum temperature of 42.6 degrees in the summer of 2019. Climatologists fear that peaks of 50 degrees will be reached in the coming decades, so it is urgent to multiply the oases of coolness as soon as possible.
The City Council of the capital, where a coalition of socialists, communists and environmentalists headed by Anne Hidalgo governs, has plans to create 300 hectares of additional green spaces by 2040. In addition, it is expected that, after the important works to avoid the spillage of untreated water, bathing in the Seine will again be allowed from 2025, after more than a century of prohibition. Two kilometers of the Saint Martin canal, now underground, will be opened to public bathing.
According to the environmental councilor Alexandre Florentin, who coordinated the report, the city needs to "adapt to the seasons" because "our ways of life will change considerably in summer" and this will imply "drastic decisions" such as interrupting the works during the summer public and alter the calendar of sporting events and cultural festivals.
All the recommendations will take time to put into practice and, in many cases, they will imply very large investments, difficult to absorb by a State that is excessively indebted. The closest challenge is the Olympic Games, between July 26 and August 11, 2024. There is already controversy about the possibility – optional – that delegations can install air conditioning units in the rooms of their athletes in the village olympic. Hidalgo is reticent, for ecological reasons, a symptom of the contradictions and ethical dilemmas that heat can cause.
