Cerema offers a series of practical fact sheets on projects to reorganize schoolyards so that they are more resilient and better adapted to climate change. The first three sheets, which relate to the operations carried out in a nursery school in Saint-Cloud, a primary school in Libourne and in the Amanvillers school group, are available.
Schoolyards represent large areas, which can help meet both the need for nature in the city and the phenomena of urban heat islands. Cerema worked with several communities as part of their discussions to redevelop schoolyards. The goal is to make them more pleasant to live especially in summer, better suited to impacts of climate change and to the stormwater management by promoting infiltration as close as possible to where it falls.
Summary sheets on local approaches
Cerema has learned lessons from these different interventions, capitalized on in this series of fact sheets, three of which have been published.
Saint-Cloud: A courtyard adapted to climate change
The first sheet summarizes the feedback from the city of Saint-Cloud who began a process of adapting the playground of a nursery school following an early heat episode in 2019.
This courtyard of just over 1000 m² was heavily waterproofed and the temperatures there were higher than elsewhere. As part of a strategy to combat heat islands, the city carried out the work during the summer of 2020, and in the summer of 2021 certain plantations were adapted.
The project made it possible to de-waterproof part of the courtyard, install a set of plantings, install lighter coverings and create a rainwater management pond.
Synthetic and illustrated with diagrams and photographs of the site, this first sheet presents the project progress and its chronology, its objectives, the transformations carried out. She returns to the decision-making process and project managementwhich relied on consultation with school teams upstream of the operations, as well as on the new uses permitted by the creation of different spaces (vegetable garden, vegetated areas including a rain basin, shade and rest areas, etc.)
Libourne: Permeable soil for more nature
The second sheet presents the approach carried out over the space of a year by the city of Libourne, which Cerema also supports as part of its strategy of adaptation to climate change by integrating in particular the question of rainwater management , for’increase permeable surfaces of the courtyard of a primary school to reduce rainwater runoff and to implement nature-based solutions and so reduce the temperature in summer.
The reflection began following a heatwave in 2019 and the demand for more nature in schoolyards. This project, carried out with the support of a landscape architect firm, called on the consultation using a model of the courtyard, with teachers and green space agents responsible for maintenance, with the desire for the next steps to also involve the students. This project, which was rewarded in 2021 with the “Participatory Approach” prize from the French Landscape Federation, encourages the city to continue the approach in other schools.
Shade and freshness at controlled costs – Amanvillers
The school group in the commune of Amanvillers brings together nursery and primary schools with two schoolyards separated by an embankment. On the occasion of the restructuring of the site, the city wanted redevelop very mineralized courses with several objectives:
- Improving the recreational environment for students
- Regulating the local climate through vegetation
- Improve the infiltration of running rainwater
- Create a pleasant landscaped space favorable to welcoming biodiversity
- Raise awareness among students, parents and teachers about climate change
- Educate students through nature.
The community has notably studied the costs and services provided of two solutions considered: installing a shade sail or planting trees. This sheet presents the project and the different stages of the process.
Re-creation of inclusive and creative spaces – Dunkirk
This sheet presents the process of redevelopment of the courtyard of the Porte d’Eau nursery and elementary school by the city of Dunkirk, which intended to be reproduced in other schools. The project was initiated in September 2020, for implementation in the summer and fall of 2021.
The objective was to diversify the spaces and uses of the courtyard, with areas dedicated to play, artistic expression, nature and facilities allowing classes outside. The courtyard was greened, and 50% of the roofs disconnected from the sanitation network.
The city called on Cerema to support it in the approach, transversal and carried out in consultation with the actors: teachers, parents of pupils, school council, class delegates, southern member of the children’s municipal council.
And diagnostic made it possible to identify levers for optimizing space. Feedback on the developments, collected through informal interviews, is very positive. The children quickly took ownership of the different spaces and arrangements.
