Climate shelters in schools
Climate change is happening now and is having an effect on people's health and quality of life. Barcelona is faced with the challenge of having to combat high temperatures which, according to climate forecasts, will have an impact on the city due to the effects of climate change.
Barcelona City Council has received funding from Urban Innovation Action (UIA), a European Commission programme as part of the ‘Adapting schools to climate change through green, blue and grey’, project. The projects proposes initiatives in eleven schools through a package of blue measures (incorporating water points), green measures (spaces for shade and vegetation) and grey measures (works on buildings to improve insulation).
What is the project about?
The aim is to convert eleven schools currently considered vulnerable to heat into climate shelters open to all city residents by implementing traditional solutions against heat in buildings and by transforming playgrounds through the introduction of vegetation, spaces for shade and water points.
Lines of work
PARTICIPATION: pupils, the educational community and various institutions and experts who take part in the project will agree on the design of spaces and will define specific needs.
EDUCATIONAL PROJECT: the definition and follow-up of these measures will be included in the educational project, which will focus mainly on climate change information and training.
OPENING UP OF SPACES FOR CITIZENS: the aim is that these spaces will not only be used by school pupils, but also by all city residents in the surroundings, who will have access to playgrounds outside of teaching timetables.
HEALTH AND EVALUATION: tots els canvis seran monitoritzats des de la perspectiva de la salut i el benestar de manera que es pugui avaluar l’impacte aconseguit en paràmetres ambientals, de salut, benestar, etcètera.
REPLICABILITY: through these measures, we are seeking to ensure that citizens and the school community understand the need to boost initiatives to adapt the city to climate change. We also hope that these measures are replicable in other buildings, particularly schools.
The schools selected
Barcelona Education Consortium invited all primary state schools in the city to take part in an application process. Forty-five schools took part, ten of which were selected, one per district. The selection of schools took into account climate criteria (degree of heat exposure, level of green coverage, etc.), intensity of building usage, state of the building and energy consumption, and current playground condition.
The eleven schools selected are as follows:
| DISTRICTE | NEIGHBOURHOOD | SCHOOL |
|---|---|---|
| Ciutat Vella | Sant Pere, Santa Caterina i la Ribera | Cervantes |
| L’Eixample | Nova Esquerra de l’Eixample | Els Llorers |
| Sants-Montjuïc | La Marina de Port | Ramon Casas |
| Les Corts | Les Corts | Ítaca |
| Sarrià - Sant Gervasi | El Putxet i el Farró | Poeta Foix |
| Gràcia | Vallcarca i els Penitents | Rius i Taulet |
| Horta-Guinardó | La Font d’en Fargas | Font d’en Fargas |
| Nou Barris | Les Roquetes | Antaviana (institut-escola) |
| Sant Andreu | Sant Andreu | Can Fabra |
| Sant Martí | El Poblenou | Poblenou |
| Sant Martí | El Poblenou | Vila Olímpica |
How have schools been transformed into Climate Shelters?
S’han transformat els espais exteriors, en un procés col·laboratiu entre administracions, entitats i escoles amb projectes pedagògics amb els infants de cada centre per decidir les actuacions concretes.
Aquestes actuacions verdes, blaves i grises han permès recuperar uns 1.000 metres quadrats de sòl natural amb vegetació als patis de les escoles, en substitució de terra de formigó i s’han creat 2.213 metres quadrats de nous espais d’ombra amb pèrgoles i tendals. A més, s’han plantat un total de 74 arbres, equivalent als que hi ha en dues illes senceres de l’Eixample, i s’han instal·lat 26 nous punts d’aigua.
Podeu consultar aquí algunes de les propostes més destacades.
Paris, twin project
The city of Paris is promoting a similar project, the Paris OASIS project, approved in the same UIA meeting and also focused on adapting to climate change through school-based initiatives.
Adapting and the Climate Plan
The Barcelona Climate Plan is a cross-departmental plan incorporating 242 measures up to the year 2030. A strategic plan with proposals to mitigate the effects of climate change, to adapt the city, to promote climate justice and to boost citizen participation.
Among others, it gathers together measures to increase the city's adaptation and resilience to the effects of climate change that are already starting to be seen. Line of action 1 specifically relates to citizen wellbeing, ‘the primary persons’, and when it comes to ‘heat prevention’, it involves improving thermal comfort in the city’s public spaces and buildings and creating a network of places that give shelter in high temperatures, in order to protect people’s health and provide special care for the most vulnerable groups.