Faced with climate challenges, cities must rethink their layout and find pragmatic solutions. Les Pâquis is particularly dense, the streets are narrow and the pipeline network is strong. The spaces available on the street are limited but the neighborhood has many interior courtyards.
Several locations belonging to the City of Geneva where it is possible to reduce heat islands and improve the aesthetics of places to make them more pleasant have been identified.
A plot in Plantamour
In the heart of Pâquis, between numbers 35 and 37 rue Philippe-Plantamour, a small tarmac courtyard used as a parking lot has become an island of freshness. Four parking spaces belonging to the City of Geneva have been removed. Tenants were offered spaces in a nearby underground car park.
The tar was thus removed and replaced by 40 m² of greenery and 60 m² of clay-limestone material to allow rainwater to infiltrate. Three trees were planted: two Japanese maples, turning scarlet red in autumn, and 1 Indian lilac, whose flowering is as delicate as it is colorful. Finally, 150 perennial plantsnotably ivy and sedges, complete the green surface, around which a bench has been installed.
Next achievements
At rue de Lausanne 31, 10 parking spaces will be moved to basement garages of the neighborhood to give birth to a courtyard decorated with 7 trees and many shrubs. This achievement is planned for fall 2024.
In the Square Jean-Jaquet, a vast courtyard currently occupied by a 52-space car park, which will be re-let under the same conditions in empty underground car parks nearby, will become a small park for the residents of adjacent buildings. 25 trees will be planted on grassy surfaces. Requiring more substantial work, the completion of this project is scheduled for fall 2025. In addition, authorizations were requested for the planting of 81 trees of various sizes and species on 13 different sites distributed across the four corners of Pâquis in place of around fifty spaces dedicated to cars, which will be compensated in underground car parks.
For Alfonso Gomez, Administrative Advisor in charge of the environment, “the addition of these interventions at the foot of the buildings contributes to greening and beautifying a very mineral neighborhood. They are part of the City’s commitment to planting of trees and revegetation to combat heat islands, improve the quality of life of the population and increase biodiversity. These actions follow other similar SEVE projects which saw the light of day in Les Grottes, Pré-Lévêque, Villereuse and in the Eaux-Vives park. Projects are also underway at the Junction.
We acknowledge Source link for the information.
