Strasbourg’s Heatwave: Moroccan Immigrants Lead Cooling Strategies in Sweltering Hautepierre

Francesca regularly waters her garden to prevent her tomato and pepper plants from dying. "When it’s this hot, you have to water them three times a week and with more water, otherwise they’ll dry out," explains this woman of Moroccan origin, accustomed to heatwaves. "I come from Morocco, I’m used to it. But I have to say it’s very hot right now, it’s true. Luckily we have these little green spaces at the foot of our buildings. There’s even a little lounge area set up there to have tea in the shade, in the open air."

Last Sunday, Météo France issued an orange heatwave alert in the Bas-Rhin department. Despite the municipality planting more than 200 trees in Hautepierre and the de-mineralization of several schoolyards in this district of the Eurometropolis of Strasbourg, which has the second lowest "canopy index" in the territory, the city is still facing a lack of fountains. "We have to go to the Citadel Park or to Kehl, in Germany, to find parks with fountains," laments Cemille, a 38-year-old mother, waiting for her children at the nursery school on a bench. And she deplores: "Even here, we have to sit on benches that are several hundred meters from the school, because there’s no shade before. We really feel suffocated between the buildings, so we try to find solutions."

"At my place, it’s an oven, and when I go out with the kids, there’s no park like in the city center. So at some point I don’t really know where to go," says Bella, 37, another mother waiting for the school to let out. To relieve the residents, the social center Le Galet regularly organizes collective outings to water bodies throughout the department, and even beyond. "The residents are hot and it has to be said that there’s not much here. Trees have been planted but there’s a lack of water points," we lament. For this month of July, the center has targeted the water bodies of Lauterbourg, Colmar-Houssen or Gérardmer.

Faced with the heatwave, other residents are opting to improve their living environment. This is the case of Aïcha Zaoui, an administrative manager at the Hautepierre hospital, who has set up a vegetable garden under her window, on the ground floor. But the husband and children of this woman in her forties "cannot get through a heatwave day without going to the swimming pool." Like them, many residents of the neighborhood and elsewhere are taking advantage of this pool, one of the best equipped in the region. "I’m there every morning and I come from a village 10 minutes from Strasbourg. Honestly, it’s great there," says Franck. "Honestly, when it’s hot, I come here systematically. As soon as I leave my apartment, there’s nothing in my neighborhood. So I prefer to walk 30 minutes in the sun and come refresh myself here," testifies Onour, 39 years old.