Title: Rethinking the American Front Yard: Formal and informal interventions in the ubiquitous lawn
1Rethinking the American Front Yard Formal and
informal interventions in the ubiquitous lawn
2Brief history of the origins of both the front
yard and the typical American suburban landscape
3Examine the cultural underpinnings of the
American front yard, and how the resulting
landscape contrasts with other countries
development typologies
4Look at attempts to transform the front yard, and
what is driving this trend informal and formal
5What are the lessons to be taken away for
planning practitioners, as well as for everyday
residents?
6The 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.
7Rowhouses were the precursor to the single-family
home. Their outdoor gathering spaces were set to
the back to the house.
8The 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.
9The 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.
10Class implications of a used front yard vs. a
backyard
11Contrast with the Spanish approach to housing
design, as seen in Mexico.
12The courtyard model and its relation to the
street.
13The courtyard model and its relation to the
street permeability.
14Contemporary urban development in Mexico still
follows this pattern even with the rise of the
automobile.
15This approach to front yards has crossed the
border and been applied to the conventional
American suburban landscape, particularly in LA.
16The front yard is transformed from a purely
aesthetic space into one that is both for
socializing and ornamentation.
17This is an entirely informal intervention in the
landscape.
18Changes in front yards in Minnesota have also
been largely informal, and culture-based - in
this case, values and attitudes surrounding
sustainability and the environment
19Growing concern over how many resources lawns
consume
20Also an interest in more social interaction and
being neighborly
21Sample front yard transformed vegetable beds
22Sample front yard transformed gathering areas
23Sample front yard transformed habitat
24Sample front yard transformed landscape
25Thus far, interventions have been informal, but
are starting to become formalized Amending
zoning code to allow larger and taller planting
beds in front yards
26Challenges On the formalization side, perennial
problem of being overly prescriptive need to
allow for some design flexibility
27Challenges 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.
28Challenges Water needs of turf grass vs. those
of plants in planting beds
29Recommendations 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.
30Recommendations 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)
31Recommendations We need to generate demand for
varieties of low-water turf grass available in
sod form.
32THANK YOU.