student David Flores lives on the top
floor of a Paris apartment block like
many older buildings in the city it's
poorly insulated David says it's
stifling hot in the summer and it was so
unbearable during last year's heat waves
that he was forced to leave
I dunked myself in water to stay cool
the heat gives me headaches last year I
was writing my thesis but couldn't
concentrate so stayed elsewhere I'm a
climate Refugee in my own City
a study in British medical journal the
Lancet says people in Paris have the
highest risk in Europe of dying in a
heat wave partly because it has a large
number of elderly more vulnerable
residents but also a cityscape that
absorbs heat at times it's 10 degrees
hotter in the capital than in the
outskirts
climate change is pushing up
temperatures summers in France are
getting warm and from here it's easy to
see why Paris gets so hot it's very
densely built there are few green spaces
and the old buildings and metals and
grooves are certainly Charming but they
trap heat
a cross-party group of Paris councilors
has raised the alarm it says Paris must
adapt to temperatures that could
regularly reach 50 degrees in the future
we need to take away the bitumen plant
trees paint our roofs in white reform
our buildings take away the cars and
everything that produce heat in the
cities
this shot is a perforated to let air and
light when closed but they can also be
fully opened so you can see the city
Remy Sulu helped design this social
housing project with climate change in
mind Green Space is isolation and
shutters all keep temperatures down
these days it can go above 40 degrees so
we need radically different architecture
to combat heat inspired by Mediterranean
architecture rather than traditional
Paris buildings nearly 3 000 people died
during heat waves in France last year
the highest number since the country's
deadliest summer in 2003 on both
occasions Paris was worse hit unless the
city adapts fast some say it could
become unlivable in Sasha Butler Al
Jazeera Paris
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