Marc Saudreau, Researcher at the INRAE (French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment) of Clermont-Ferrand

The cooling of cities by trees is a strong current issue. The surrounding questions and the will of bioclimatologists and physiologist to work on it are behind the project COOLTREES.

Facing the upcoming climate changes, vegetation and trees in particular have to reintegrate the urban sphere and develop serenely, in harmony, with the expectations of citizens and the specific environnemental constraints.

The goal is for trees to contribute improving the quality of life within cities, notably by mitigating the urban heat island effect. To succeed, a better understanding of their functioning and interactions with the surrounding elements that compose the urban landscape as well as of the practical implementations of trees is crucial. As research rarely follows a predefined path, some goals of this project are reached while others would benefit from a review or further analysis. The next step of the project COOLTREES is thus already announced: TIR4sTREEt which will be launched in 2022 and the results disseminated in 2025.

Redactor: Marc Saudreau