Combatting climate change one tree at a time
Soaring temperatures simply aren’t sustainable: What one French city is doing to battle the effects of climate change.
Climate change is in the headlines daily, and it is a topic that unites people across the globe. As we pen this article, Europe is experiencing its second heatwave of the year, with temperatures in France, England and Spain expected to hit 40 degrees in the coming days. Sadly, this ‘phenomenon’ is becoming more and more commonplace, and, in fact, we are seeing an increasing amount of new vocabulary related to global warming forming within our language.
For instance: Psychic Corpus Dissonance, the bodily pleasure of unusually warm weather, coupled with concern that weather patterns are deeply amiss.
With a topic so vast, that has a seemingly endless variety of angles from which to begin tackling it, it can be overwhelming for you or me to know what we can do to help. While yes, large policy reforms are needed, we believe that often the best place to begin with topics like this is within your community.
Why? Because we’re all experts of where we live, whether we’re aware of it or not. We all know where more trees can be planted, where recycling bins are needed, and where there should be bike lanes.
And it’s within our communities, especially within cities, that this information is needed. Cities are incredibly ill-equipped to deal with rising temperatures. The reasons for this are numerous, and include sealed road surfaces, excessive traffic, industrial activity and lack of vegetation.
We have to act now.
And we’re not the only ones who think this. Ville de Lyon, France’s second city, has just completed a citizen consultation (facilitated by Civocracy) focused on tackling city-specific challenges with the aim of mitigating and preventing the effects of climate change.
Their Parlons Climat (Let’s talk about climate) project, focused on three thematics:
- How to fight against heat in the city.
- How to better manage waste and energy.
- How to protect and develop biodiversity in the city.
There was a mix of thoughtful responses from both citizens and community-level stakeholders, and there were clear recurrent themes that Lyon’s inhabitants noted a need for. These included green roofs, air conditioning alternatives, the reduction of light pollution, and better composting options.
This consultation represents a serious shift by local policymakers to reduce the barrier to entry for citizens within the democratic sphere, as well as providing citizens with more autonomy for the development of the future of their cities.
At the press conference following the close of the consultation, the city’s mayor announced 5 large-scale policy changes and commitments that would be implemented based on their consultations with citizens.
1) Improving existing real estate:
Ville de Lyon has an expansive array of real estate to manage, including buildings of significant historical and architectural value. In order to deliver premium public services to citizens, while also incorporating state-of-the-art sustainability principles, Lyon have begun the implementation of a 10-year investment project, through which €100 million will be devoted to improving the energy performance of over 15 municipal-owned locations, including the library, pool, dance hall, town hall, and a number of sports complexes.
2) Conquering the ‘fifth’ wall:
Every city boasts its fair share of flat roofs, which each providing an opportunity for sustainable development. Ville de Lyon has committed, whenever possible, to optimise the roofs of future municipal buildings including those already under construction (especially schools) with either integrated solar panels for the creation of green energy, and/or the ‘greening’ of these roofs to reduce city heat, manage rainwater, and even to provide space for vegetable gardens.
3) The ‘Tree Plan’:
Ville de Lyon has set itself the target of planting 100,000 trees in the next 10 years. This doubles the municipality’s previous efforts (they currently plant 1,000 trees a year). However, the city also believes that they shouldn’t just hit numbers for the sake of it, and plan on increasing the proportion of plants to mitigate the effects of incoming citizens. They will also prioritise planting in the areas that currently have the least green space.
The city will also further include citizens in the development of this project, and they are requesting that citizens digitally map the places they want new trees to be planted, and to also suggest the types of tree species they would like to see in their neighbourhoods.
4) Private sector collaboration:
Through the Civocracy consultation, the city realised the importance of involving the private sector in order to ensure maximum impact in regards to creating lasting change. They are working on an agreement with the Federation of Real Estate Developers, to incentivise developers to systematically integrate plants into their designs, and to increase their use of environmentally-friendly materials, green spaces, composters, and biodiversity protection.
The City’s Green Spaces Department intends to run workshops and training, provide support and plants, and loan equipment to those looking to live in the city centre, in order to encourage citizens to develop green spaces and reuse rainwater.
5) Shared gardening at the heart of the city:
Communal gardens are something Lyon specialises in. They currently have around 60 shared spaces, which are managed by 2,000 volunteers. As well as providing green spaces at the heart of the city, the gardens promote social cohesion and civic responsibility. The city has committed to developing 3 new gardens every year, and plans on providing more resources for the associations who are responsible for the development and maintenance of these spaces.
We’re impressed by the city’s efforts, and are excited to watch Lyon become a haven of greenery. Ville de Lyon isn’t the first city to prioritise sustainability and climate action agendas (and hopefully isn’t the last!). They cited Barcelona and New York as inspirations, and intend on translating projects from these other geographical contexts, especially in relation to ephemeral actions, but have stated that they always want their citizens’ involvement in shaping and developing these projects so that they are truly adapted for the Lyon context.
Following the Parlons Climat project, the city consulted citizens on more specific ideas relating to vegetation, which can be viewed here. Ville de Lyon is also applying for the title of the “The Green Capital of Europe 2022”, an award given by the European Union annually to cities who hit ambitious objectives in regards to sustainability and the environment. Should they be successful, Lyon would act as an ambassador and provide use cases for positive climate action across the continent. Good luck with your application, Ville de Lyon!
You can view Lyon’s Civocracy platform here.
For more information on digital citizen participation, or to sign up for your own Civocracy platform, please contact chloe@civocracy.org.
Authored by Emily McDonnell, Head of Communications and Partnerships.
