The high temperatures recorded in many places during summer are often increased by the asphalt in cities and other human activities. This is known as the heat island effect, something that authorities aim to reduce in the coming years by promoting a trend towards depaving.
The emergence of the Depave (depaving) movement
In the United States, a movement has emerged with the goal of directly removing artificial pavement. They have named it Depave (depaving), and it has already completed 75 projects in Portland.
This movement has expanded to other North American cities and around the world, such as London, Paris, or Amsterdam. It all started in Portland in 2008, when a group of volunteers created Depave to replace asphalt with green areas and allow rainwater to be absorbed by the soil, thus preventing floods.
Since then, the idea has been spreading and has been warmly welcomed by the residents of many of these localities.
Katherine Rose, communications director of Depave, told the BBC: “It’s like freeing the land.” The initiative aims to replace as much cement, concrete, and other materials as possible with the native soil of the place or green areas.
Benefits of depaving
In addition to facilitating the absorption of rainwater, the promoters of Depave encourage the growth of wild plants in urban spaces, which refreshes the environment and creates shade, alleviating the sensation of heat and protecting residents from sunstroke.
Depave explains: “In many cities, more than half of urban land is paved for roads and parking lots. While we may need sidewalks and roads, we can minimize the pavement we use and thus restore the natural environment.”
International expansion and collaboration with NASA
What started in Portland has spread to other areas in the United States, such as Chicago, and has crossed the pond to reach Europe. In Leuven (Belgium), 6,800 square meters of concrete have been removed, allowing 1.7 million liters of water to be absorbed by the soil.
This Belgian city is now considering large-scale depaving, allocating several million euros to finance renaturalization projects. In France, the trend towards depaving is also gaining momentum. Emmanuel Macron’s government has allocated 540 million euros to urban ecology initiatives, including the removal of pavement and the creation of green roofs and vertical gardens.
To highlight the benefits of these initiatives, Depave has implemented a program in collaboration with NASA. Using satellite images and advanced infrared thermal sensors, they have confirmed the temperature decrease in depaved areas. This analysis has allowed the creation of an urban heat map demonstrating how areas where pavement has been removed experience a significant thermal decrease.
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