OASIS - School yards: Openness, Adaptation, Sensitisation, Innovation and Social ties: Design and transformation of local urban areas adapted to climate change, working jointly with users

In the inner city, there are only 5.8 m² of green spaces per capita. The network of 656 schools and 115 highschools managed by the city presents an opportunity. The majority of Parisians live within 200 meters of these places which they can easily identify (this is where their kids go to school, where they vote, etc.). In total, schoolyards cover 73 hectares of asphalted and impervious surfaces, which participate in the heat island effect and do not favour the management of rainwater. In addition, most of them are closed outside of school and extracurricular hours. 
Transforming Paris schoolyards is an opportunity to provide answers to climate and social challenges. 
The OASIS project plans to transform 10 schoolyards into cool islands through innovative techniques, nature based solutions, in an integrated approach
 The transformations will emerge through a co-design process carried out with the pupils and the educational community, and develop the corresponding methodological tools. The results of this process will assist the City in defining the specifications for such interventions. This will be built with the expertise of a wide range of stakeholders, in an integrated and multi-disciplinary approach, to develop innovative technical solutions as well as opportunities to engage with the communities of the neighbourhoods.
OASIS’ innovation lies primarily in the search for eco-innovative products to create cool islands: materials (infiltration, thermal performance, and low carbon footprint), rainwater recovery systems, nature-based solutions adapted to risks (shading, evapotranspiration, drought resistance, non-allergenic), furniture (shade, play areas, cabins) in local manufacturing, water games and fountains. The innovation of OASIS also lies in the process developed to co-design and mobilize collective intelligence of neighbours, of all ages, to define and better manage local facilities. Hence, OASIS proposes the emergence of new models of micro-local governance, with methods for local actors’ empowerment.
OASIS is a fertile island welcoming nature and humans. In a metaphorical sense, it becomes a hospitable refuge amid the pressures of the urban environment.