Three years ago, in Zurich for the first time, I crossed a bridge over the Limmat River and saw people floating down it in rubber rings on their way home from work, some casually holding beers. The Limmat is so clear that it almost begs you not only to jump in, but to drink it.

Paris’s Canal Saint-Martin has never produced either desire in me – but sweltering in last week’s 38C heat, I wanted to close my eyes, pretend it was the Limmat, and leap. Others weren’t so hesitant; there was a line of people going up one of the footbridges over the canal waiting for their turn to jump, dive, backflip or just belly-flop into the water.

As the climate crisis throws its destructive effects ever more fully in our faces, cities during heatwaves are their own type of ground zero. It’s no secret that Paris lacks green space and tree cover, ranking at the bottom of MIT’s Green View index. Last week especially, I found myself longing for the expansive green lawns of Parc Montsouris – along with its free, public sparkling water fountain (one of 17 across the city).

With the sidewalks sizzling and the sweat dripping, how can we create more green spaces and more tolerable streets in a densely populated city, with housing stock so susceptible to increasingly intense summer heat?

The answer seems to be to squeeze in bits of vegetation and traffic-calming measures wherever possible. A green wall near Sentier Métro station; bushes, trees, flowers and wildgrasses in former parking spots on

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