Contesting natural(ized) lawns: A geography of private green space in the Niagara region

The lawn as material practice is historically grounded in a complex of influences that has given rise to its dominance as the appropriate landscaping form in urban and suburban North America for private green space. This occurs as a variety of ecological concerns challenge the continuation of the lawned landscape. The inability of such critique to displace this dominance attests to the ideological naturalization of the lawn. This paper examines current and historical factors that sustain the lawn's dominance and presents two interrelated findings. The first is the "social machinery" that delineates the informal and formal arrangements for upholding and monitoring landscaping practices. The second are residential property holders' perspectives on the importance of the lawn, and associations between residential yard practices and professed environmental concerns. Apparently, the lawn retains enough symbolic and material value to withstand critique, a quality that removes it from the geography of environmental concerns.