When the sun sets, a second city life currently begins in Rennes.
While the streets shimmer in the heat during the day and the facades of the Breton capital absorb heat like hot plates, hundreds of people move into the parks in the evening. Families spread blankets on the lawns, teenagers laugh sitting under old chestnut trees, older residents enjoy every cooler breeze. Some stay well past midnight. Not out of romance—but because it’s barely bearable inside the apartments anymore.
Rennes is experiencing unusually early temperatures this year that are normally expected only in midsummer. Up to 36 degrees Celsius during the day, tropical nights with hardly any temperature drop—even for many French people, this feels unsettling. Especially in Brittany. There, heavy sweating used to be more of a vacation problem of the South.
Now the city is responding with a measure that sounds simple yet tells a lot about the new reality: Parks and public gardens remain open at night.
Particularly popular is Parc du Thabor, usually closed in the evening. Now people sit there deep into the night on benches or directly on the grass. “This is royal,” says one visitor about the opened green spaces. Others put it more bluntly: “At least there’s a bit of air here.”
That’s exactly what it’s about.
Because modern cities store heat like a sponge stores water. Asphalt, concrete, and densely built streets give off the heat only hours later. Those who live on upper floors or under the roof know the feeling: the apartment feels like an oven with a door left ajar at night. Sleep? None.
Especially older people, children, pregnant women, and people living alone quickly reach physical limits at such temperatures. Authorities therefore no longer see the nighttime opening of the parks as a nice summer idea but as part of health protection.
Rennes is not alone with this problem. In many French cities, climate change is already changing everyday life. Public drinking water fountains, extended swimming pool opening hours, misting systems on squares, or new shading concepts are already part of the municipal standard equipment in many places against heat waves. That sounds technical—but has immediate effects on people’s daily lives.
And suddenly, parks no longer just seem like pretty green spaces between apartment blocks but like vital retreats.
The city is therefore continuing to expand its network of so-called “cool islands.” Places where trees, water areas, and plants noticeably lower the surrounding temperature. Anyone walking through Rennes on hot evenings often notices the difference after just a few meters. Between the heated urban canyons, a shady park almost feels like a different climate zone.
A few years ago, hardly anyone would have believed that people would seek refuge from the heat at night in Breton parks at the end of May. Today, exactly this image suddenly belongs to everyday life.
And honestly: that scares many French people more than any weather app.
By C. Hatty