How Cuers Is Preparing Its Public Spaces for Heat

Cuers – 12 August 2026: In the southern French town of Cuers, adapting to extreme summer heat has long been part of municipal planning. Sails provide shade on playgrounds, while misting systems offer temporary cooling in heavily used areas. A schoolyard is being redesigned following the model of a green oasis. The municipality in the Var department aims to prevent paved, sun-exposed areas from becoming barely usable during heatwaves.

The projects are part of a strategy that Cuers launched as early as 2022. It is supported by the CAUE Var architecture, urban planning and environmental advisory body. The municipality is testing practical interventions which, according to the advisory body, can also be transferred to other towns in the department. The focus is not on spectacular individual projects, but on changes to places used by many people every day.

Particular attention is being paid to schools. Children spend breaks and supervised time outdoors there even during hot periods. The municipal administration runs six schools in its area, including the Jean Moulin and Jean Jaurès primary schools. As the schoolyards are redesigned, paved surfaces are to be reduced, trees planted and permanently usable shaded areas created.

The individual measures serve different functions. Shade sails directly protect play and recreation areas from direct sunlight. Unsealed ground can absorb rainwater more effectively; trees and other plants cool their surroundings through shade and evaporation. Misting systems provide short-term relief on particularly hot days, but cannot replace a long-term redesign of urban space.

Alongside structural interventions, Cuers is focusing on social preparedness. For summer 2026, the municipality has activated a register for particularly vulnerable residents. It enables municipal services to contact older, isolated or health-impaired people in a targeted manner during periods of extreme heat. The Var Prefecture also points to public water points and cooled places to stay in the department.

The recommendations of the French Ministry of National Education also focus on everyday school life: those in charge should identify particularly affected rooms, use windows and sun protection according to conditions, and limit physically demanding activities during the hottest hours. Greener, shaded schoolyards complement these organizational measures by keeping outdoor areas usable for longer.

Cuers is thus combining rapid protective measures with redevelopment that has an impact beyond individual hot days. Schools, playgrounds and public gathering areas are being treated as municipal infrastructure whose design has health consequences. In southeastern Mediterranean France, climate adaptation is therefore increasingly affecting the choice of surface materials, vegetation and shading in everyday life.