Before the heat arrived, Amelie Kenney felt like she had landed a great deal: a small but affordable top-floor apartment in Paris, complete with a tiny balcony offering a stunning view of the city’s famous gray rooftops — and, if she leaned out far enough, a glimpse of the Sacré-Cœur basilica crowning Montmartre.
But a record-breaking heat wave has turned her attic apartment into a potential health hazard, and the 23-year-old recent graduate is no longer counting her blessings.
“It’s been the worst week that we’ve had in this apartment,” she said as Paris and much of Europe sweltered. “It’s just baking in the whole afternoon and it’s impossible to just get a respite.”
Many of Paris’ buildings — so charming when viewed from the street — are proving to be hostile and even dangerous environments during the relentless record heat, which is making both long summer days and short, sweat-soaked nights a struggle for survival.
The problem is especially severe for those living directly beneath Paris’ rooftops, who frequently cannot afford larger apartments on lower floors that are less exposed to direct sunlight.
Extreme heat in these spaces can be lethal. France’s public health agency reported last year that a study examining a record 2003 heat wave — which was blamed for 15,000 heat-related deaths — found that living in a Parisian attic room directly under the roof raised the risk of death by more than four times. Additionally, researchers studying heat-related deaths across European cities for a 2023 study published in The Lancet Planetary Health journal determined that Paris carried the highest risk of heat-related deaths among 30 European capitals examined.
Roughly three-quarters of Paris’ rooftops are covered in zinc sheets, giving the city its beloved gray skyline that has long captivated artists and filmmakers. The skill of the city’s zinc roofers has even been recognized by the U.N. cultural agency UNESCO as a valued piece of cultural heritage. Zinc is durable, flexible, and recyclable — but as a metal, it readily absorbs and transfers heat.
“People find the rooftops of Paris charming. There’s the image of the attic room. But in reality, when you look at who lives in these apartments, it’s often students paying a great deal of money for a small room,” said Maider Olivier, with The Foundation for Housing for the Disadvantaged campaign group.
“Not only are they extremely exposed to heat, but it’s also impossible to create cross-ventilation to get rid of the heat at night,” Olivier added.
In the sixth-floor walk-up that Kenney shares with her partner, Francesca Pilia, also 23, the two have managed to fit a desk, a double bed, and a small electric piano. The apartment’s single window juts out from the zinc roof and faces west, meaning it catches direct sunlight from noon until dusk. Together, they pay 735 euros — about $835 — each month in rent.
“It was the cheapest place to be,” Kenney said. “I like that it looks out onto the square. I can see marriages almost every Saturday morning.”
“But now I think if I could spend extra money to be somewhere else, I would,” she added.
While offices, shopping centers, movie theaters, and other modern public spaces typically have air conditioning, private apartments in Paris — particularly in the densely packed central neighborhoods filled with classic Haussmann-style buildings, named after the 19th-century urban planner who reshaped the city with wide boulevards and its distinctive architectural character — almost never do.
Olivier noted that zoning rules designed to preserve Paris’ appearance, including its signature rooftops, are standing in the way of heat adaptation efforts.
“There are people who are unable to insulate their roofs or install shutters to block the sun and prevent their homes from overheating because of regulations to protect the rooftops,” she said. “But these regulations which protect the rooftops of Paris do not protect the people who live beneath those rooftops.”
Kenney, originally from Australia, and Pilia, who is Italian, are both accustomed to warm weather. But Paris’ temperatures — with June record highs pushing past 40°C (104°F) during the day and dropping only to about 25°C (77°F) at night — have worn them down.
The two have purchased a small electric fan, taken cold showers, used wet rags to cool themselves, stayed hydrated, and wrestled with the constant dilemma of whether to leave their window open or shut.
“I’ll wake up and I’ll decide, it’s too hot, I have to open the window,” Kenney said. “An hour later, I wake up, I say, ‘It is too loud, I have to close the window.’”
“It’s a very, very Kafkaesque cycle,” she said.
