Rethinking the American Front Yard: Formal and informal interventions in the ubiquitous lawn

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Rethinking the American Front Yard Formal and
informal interventions in the ubiquitous lawn
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Brief history of the origins of both the front
yard and the typical American suburban landscape
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Examine the cultural underpinnings of the
American front yard, and how the resulting
landscape contrasts with other countries
development typologies
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Look at attempts to transform the front yard, and
what is driving this trend informal and formal
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What are the lessons to be taken away for
planning practitioners, as well as for everyday
residents?
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The origin of the front yard and the American
suburban landscape are very much derived from the
English and an idealized view of the English
countryside.
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Rowhouses were the precursor to the single-family
home. Their outdoor gathering spaces were set to
the back to the house.
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The single-family home with the front-yard
setback is simply a cousin of this approach,
fueled by changes in transportation, plentiful
land, the agrarian ideal.
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The single-family home with the front-yard
setback is simply a cousin of this approach,
fueled by changes in transportation, plentiful
land, the agrarian ideal.
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Class implications of a used front yard vs. a
backyard
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Contrast with the Spanish approach to housing
design, as seen in Mexico.
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The courtyard model and its relation to the
street.
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The courtyard model and its relation to the
street permeability.
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Contemporary urban development in Mexico still
follows this pattern even with the rise of the
automobile.
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This approach to front yards has crossed the
border and been applied to the conventional
American suburban landscape, particularly in LA.
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The front yard is transformed from a purely
aesthetic space into one that is both for
socializing and ornamentation.
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This is an entirely informal intervention in the
landscape.
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Changes in front yards in Minnesota have also
been largely informal, and culture-based - in
this case, values and attitudes surrounding
sustainability and the environment
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Growing concern over how many resources lawns
consume
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Also an interest in more social interaction and
being neighborly
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Sample front yard transformed vegetable beds
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Sample front yard transformed gathering areas
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Sample front yard transformed habitat
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Sample front yard transformed landscape
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Thus far, interventions have been informal, but
are starting to become formalized Amending
zoning code to allow larger and taller planting
beds in front yards
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Challenges On the formalization side, perennial
problem of being overly prescriptive need to
allow for some design flexibility
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Challenges Some guidelines are needed so as to
avoid this kind of thing. The majority of people
are fine with more plants in the front yard, as
long as they are contained by clean edges and
turf.
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Challenges Water needs of turf grass vs. those
of plants in planting beds
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Recommendations Formalizing the design side
Unrealistic to think all residents are going to
hire a designer. Create a series of design
workshops sponsored by cities. Residents take
away general principles.
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Recommendations Write guidelines in a way that
allows for design flexibility while still
ensuring a general level of tidiness to the
landscape (e.g. managed natural landscape,
define what a weed is)
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Recommendations We need to generate demand for
varieties of low-water turf grass available in
sod form.
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THANK YOU.