Project Oasis is a plan to convert the concrete schoolyards of Paris into “islands of cool”. The goal is to provide respite in periods of extreme heat, and perhaps even bring down temperatures across a city with a desperate shortage of green space. Just 9,5% of Paris is given over to parks and gardens – the lowest proportion of any European city (London boasts 33% green space and Madrid 35%).
The courtyards at this school will be transformed – a green wall here, a vegetable planter there, expanded areas of shade and special drainable concrete surfaces that can absorb water when it rains. All of Paris’s 800 schools will be transformed into green spaces by 2040.
