With the arrival of the warm months, temperatures in the Catalan capital begin to exceed thirty degrees. These warm temperatures, especially in recent years and as an effect of climate change, are accompanied by heat waves that raise the degrees on the city's thermometers and force Barcelonians and tourists to continuously seek spaces to shelter from the sun that illuminates Barcelona's sky. As a measure of the Climate Plan, designed to mitigate the effects of climate change, the Barcelona City Council will plant trees and install structures such as awnings with the aim of generating up to 194 shaded spaces in the city by 2027.
According to a study by the council, currently 62% of the public space in the Catalan capital already has shade, while there is 19% where action must be taken as a priority. For this reason, and for this summer, the Shade Plan foresees that shade systems will be installed in 66 children's play areas, 15 schoolyards and 3 large spaces in the city: Plaça de Mar, Rambla del Carmel and the slab of the Sant Andreu Comtal station.
"We want to put more shade in the city and reduce the effects of heat islands, facilitate energy savings in buildings and promote life in gardens and shared spaces," highlighted the mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni, who emphasized that the Catalan capital is preparing for extreme heat episodes that will be increasingly frequent. Collboni has assured that those areas will be prioritized to protect the most vulnerable groups, such as playgrounds or schoolyards. The set of actions by the council has a budget of 13 million euros until 2027 and foresees the creation of more than 50,000 m² of shaded surface.
Currently, there are 183 shaded children's play areas, 10 of which have awnings. For 2025, the council foresees 66 new shaded areas, 52 of which will be installed before summer and 14 by the end of the year. Once installed, work will begin on the next phase, with the goal that by the summer of 2027, 46 more play areas can be installed. Thus, with the deployment of the City Council's Shade Plan, a total of 303 will have shade by the summer of 2027, out of the 900 distributed throughout the Catalan capital. Action will also be taken in 15 schoolyards with different installations, which will be implemented during the summer holidays.
In addition to play areas and schoolyards, action will also be taken in 29 public spaces in the city with the installation of seasonal shade structures with awnings. Of this type, three structures will be installed this summer, in Plaça de Mar, Rambla del Carmel, and the slab of Sant Andreu Comtal station, the largest of all, with an area of 1,200 m². These awnings are made with micro-perforated fabrics that allow natural air circulation, to generate movement under these infrastructures. Later, they will also be installed in other locations in the city, such as Plaça del Poeta Boscà in Ciutat Vella or Plaça Joanic in Gràcia.
In addition to awnings, in those spaces where possible, the Barcelona City Council will prioritize generating shade through trees, as it is the most natural and sustainable system to create a space to protect oneself from the sun. In ten spaces in the city, trees will be planted to generate these shades, such as Portal del Ángel in Ciutat Vella or Paseo Olímpic in Sants-Montjuïc, but their installation will not begin until the summer of 2026.