By Sarah Elzas
Sebastien Maire is Paris' first ever Chief Resilience Officer, working to help the city weather the effects of climate change, but also air pollution and even terrorism. He's had to push the city, long used to working in its own way, to adopt new ways of approaching infrastructure and budgets.
[...]
Sebastien Maire's job was conceived of by the 100 resilient cities project from the Rockefeller Foundation, which first supported his position in 2013. Today, Maire is part of the city's administration, its chief officer for ecological transition and resilience.
[...]
Paris is a mineral city, which does not work with heatwaves. By 2050 we might face temperatures of 55 degrees in the shade, which will last a month or more.
[...]
SM: Our first major project is to renovate school courtyards, to turn them into "cool islands". That’s huge, because Paris has more than 700 schools, representing 70 hectares of land.
[...]