• Giant sails, shades, the hottest spots of Toulouse will be equipped to overcome the summer heat waves.
  • The Place du Capitole should host trees planted in giant pots but this development will be unveiled in a few weeks.
  • In the longer term, new urban planning rules will favour clear facades and white roofs.

A truck that arrives with an "operator" and which deploys alone an inflatable shade of 260 m2 on the very mineral Place Abbal de la Reynerie. No image for the moment and the name of the industrialist who developed this "demonstrator" will be revealed in a few weeks. But, this original device, which can be moved to other "urban heat islands", is part of the cooling plan unveiled this Thursday by the mayor of Toulouse Jean-Luc Moudenc to face, from this summer, the predictable episodes of heat wave.

The other curiosity announced is a garland of "ribbons" of 1,500 m2 on 375 meters of linear which will serve as a dome to the shopping street Alsace-Lorraine, quickly suffocating. Triangular shade sails will also be deployed on the Saint-Pierre bridge, fixed by ballasts, or on the Place des Pradettes, the Maourine square and the Michelet Garden. The emblematic Place du Capitole will also be shaded, thanks to trees planted in giant pots but the suspense will still last on this small revolution, because the "technical constraints" remain numerous between the underground car park that prevents the arrival of too heavy equipment and the listed facade of the city hall that it is forbidden to hide from view.

A 3 euro planet ticket in transport

But behind these spectacular summer deployments, hide other daily measures intended "to protect the most fragile as a priority". To end the school year in good conditions, 27 of 31 schools, for example, will see the arrival of "air fans", otherwise fans fixed to the ceiling.

In the event of an orange heatwave alert, developments already tested will systematically come into force: four swimming pools will remain open from 7 a.m. to 22 p.m. (Toulouse-Lautrec, Jany, Bellevue and Papus), the municipal parks will play extensions until 23 p.m., and the large José-Cabanis media library until 22 p.m. In Tisséo transport, the Planet ticket, hitherto reserved for pollution peaks, will appear in the event of a red alert, allowing you to circulate on the entire network for 3 euros per day.



Light facades and white roofs

Finally, Toulouse and the metropolis want to arm themselves in the longer term against heat peaks and "prepare the city of tomorrow". They will integrate "an albedo criterion", favouring clear facades and white roofs, in their next Local Intercommunal Urban Planning and Housing Plan (PLUiH). The municipality will set an example by soon repainting the roof of the Campus Trafic building, its traffic PC, on the Atlanta Boulevard side.

Other ideas could also bring a breath of fresh air. From June 1st and throughout the summer, Toulouse residents are invited to do their holiday homework by leaving new suggestions on an Internet platform.

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