Green haven keeps Paris cool

Joggers making use of the Little Belt, a ring of disused train tracks around Paris that is being turned into recreational space. — ©2023 The New York Times Company

ACROSS the street from a block of office buildings in western Paris, Bernard Sokler was surrounded by trees, weeds and crickets, as he tended to a bush of purple wildflowers in a largely forgotten strip of land.

Sokler, 60, and his team look after the greenery around a set of disused train tracks that circle Paris, known as the Little Belt, that the city is pushing to revitalise as it aims to mitigate the effects of climate change.