Heroes Not Zombies

I read an interesting article yesterday on a French website. They discussed the lifestyle of the Spanish on the other side of the Pyrenees from Toulouse, posing the question, how might the French adapt their lifestyle in the light of climate change which is producing the record high temperatures we are experiencing in France just now.

They explored three areas I thought worth sharing – town/city design, work patterns and food.

In medieval towns streets were narrow and buildings were tall which means you can walk around those old towns in shade at any time of day. In wider streets, the Spanish often stretch colourful sheets of material from buildings on one side of the street to the other. That design produces shade and creates a celebratory feel to the city centre. This idea reminded me of visits to Kyoto where there are permanent shades fixed above the pavements and to Bologna with its long arched cloister style design of structure over some of the pavements.

I’ve also seen several articles recently which describe how tree lined streets in cities maintain much lower, more comfortable temperatures in the heat of summer.

The second area explored was lifestyle – particularly work patterns. In Spain shops close in the middle of the day then open again much later in the afternoon, remaining open much later in the evening. Spanish people are also much more likely to take a siesta in the heat of the day. I wonder how often we adjust our to do and task lists throughout the day to take the weather into account? Which leads to the next point….employment law which supports switching to more flexible work hours when the temperature is over 30 degrees.

Finally, the third area was food. Refreshing cold tomato soup (gazpacho) is very popular in the hot summer months, but Spain is also famous for tapas – those delicious mini-dishes which are ideal for hot weather – eat little and often is the advice.

Maybe you don’t live in a part of the world which is facing more, hotter days, but wherever you are I’m sure climate change is going to challenge us all to adapt, to make changes to our lifestyles and our lived, built environments.