Using rainwater for tree-based cooling on Garibaldi Street

Lyon, France

​Garibaldi Street is a major thoroughfare running through Lyon’s city centre.
 Designed as an “urban motorway” in the 1960s, the oversized road no longer serves contemporary needs for development and quality of space. Refurbishment was initiated in the 1990s, and is now entering into a second, more ambitious phase expected to turn the six-lane road into a people- friendly green street that will also serve economic regeneration. The 2.6km project drastically re-allocates space between highway users. ​Pedestrians, cyclists and buses now have the lion’s share. The scheme features extensive tree planting, designed to provide shade and manage surface water runoff from the footways and cycle paths. Structural “skeleton” growing medium is being used underneath footways and cycle paths to maximise the rooting volume.

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