Understanding the social determinants of lawn landscapes: A fine-resolution spatial statistical analysis in suburban Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Giner, Nicholas M.; Polsky, Colin; Pontius, Robert Gilmore; Runfola, Daniel Miller

doi:10.1016/j.landurbplan.2012.12.006

Cited by 33 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…Even less clear is intra-urban variability of urban food production, that is, the ways that the presence and function of UA differ within a city or neighborhood. A number of studies have explored such socio-spatial variation in relation to trees (Martin, Warren, & Kinzig, 2004), lawns (Giner, Polsky, Pontius Jr., & Runfola, 2013), biodiversity (Kinzig, Warren, Martin, Hope, & Katti, 2005), and community and organizational gardens (Guitart et al, 2013;Kremer & DeLiberty, 2011;Pourias, Aubry, & Duchemin, 2015), but scholars have only recently begun to examine such variation in relation to residential UA (Hunter & Brown, 2012;V. M. Smith, Greene, & Silbernagel, 2013;Taylor & Lovell, 2012.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Socio-spatial differentiation in the Sustainable City: A mixed-methods assessment of residential gardens in metropolitan Portland, Oregon, USA

McClintock

Mahmoudi

Simpson

et al. 2016

Landscape and Urban Planning

104

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As cities take center stage in developing and brokering strategies for sustainability, examining the uneven distribution of green infrastructure is crucial. Urban agriculture (UA) has gained a prominent role in urban greening and food system diversification strategies alike. Despite that it is the preeminent form of food production in North American cities, residential gardening has received little scholarly attention. Moreover, research on the intra-urban variability of home gardens is sparse. In this paper, we use a mixed-methods approach to assess the scale and scope of residential gardens in Portland, Oregon, a metropolitan region renowned for its innovations in sustainability. Using a combination of mapping, spatial regression, and a mail survey, we compare residential UA and the characteristics and motivations of gardeners in two socioeconomically differentiated areas of Portland and one of its major suburbs. Results demonstrate that engagement in UA is differentiated both along spatial and socioeconomic lines, with more educated respondents engaging for environmental reasons and more low-income respondents relying on their gardens for food security. We contextualize our findings within broader urban processes, e.g. reinvestment in the urban core and displacement of poverty to the periphery. For policymakers, our results suggest the need for sustainability messaging that is sensitive to a variety of motivations and that resonates with a diverse population. For a city to reach a broader population, it may need to reframe its sustainability goals in new ways, while attending to the structural constraints to food access that cannot be resolved through local food production alone.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Socio-spatial differentiation in the Sustainable City: A mixed-methods assessment of residential gardens in metropolitan Portland, Oregon, USA

McClintock

Mahmoudi

Simpson

et al. 2016

Landscape and Urban Planning

104

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“…The diversity of ornamental plants is dependent on the age of the urban development and the horticultural fashions prevalent at the time of establishment. Whereas the older urban landscapes tend to have established gardens with established ecosystems dominated by large remnant trees and established horticulturally planted trees in street and garden plantings, the recent urban sprawl increasingly converts exotic cleared production landscapes into suburbia, dominated by architectural monotony, small parcellation and a horticulturally largely treeless monoculture of lawns and low scrub (e.g., Boling, 1990;Laws, 1995;Hall, 2010;Brunner & Cozens, 2013;Giner et al, 2013). Despite concerted research (e.g., Burghardt et al, 2009;Lerman & Warren, 2011) and policy moves to the contrary (e.g., Müller et al, 2013;Hartin et al, 2014), by and large, native plants have been replaced by exotics (e.g., Yee, 1990;Hernández et al, 2014) with implications on avifauna biodiversity (e.g., Clergeau et al, 2006;van Heezik & Adams, 2016).…”

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confidence: 99%

The contribution of the Canary Island date palm (Phoenix canariensis) to the winter diet of frugivores in novel ecosystems

Spennemann

2019

European Journal of Ecology

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With the increasing expansion in urban areas, many species have adapted to utilising horticulturally used plants as alternate or augmentary food sources, in particular, during winter – when native foods are largely absent. Ornamental palms, particularly Canary Island Date Palms, fruit continuously during most of the year and thus provide a stable food supply. Based on observational, metric and bio-chemical data, this paper examines the role Canary Island Date Palms can and do play in the nutrition of frugivorous animals, in particular, for birds. It demonstrates that with its nearly year-round provisioning of drupes, the palm plays a major role as a ‘staple’ and backup food source for several species.

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“…Similar to the Turner and Ibes study, much of the research analyzing single‐family household water consumption is conducted at aggregated scales such as the city, census tract, or neighborhood. These studies show that numerous structural, environmental, spatial, social, and behavioral factors influence single‐family household water consumption, summarized in Table [ Wentz and Gober , ; Guhathakurta and Gober , ; Balling and Cubaque , ; House‐Peters et al ., ; Breyer et al ., ; Polebitski and Palmer , ; Chang et al ., ; Giner et al ., ; Aggarwal et al ., ; Halper et al ., ]. A dominant theme in this literature is the impact of warmer temperatures on household water use, demonstrating a positive relationships between the two variables and in some cases linked to the UHI effect [ Guhathakurta and Gober , ; Polebitski and Palmer , ].…”

Section: Residential Water Usementioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of Homeowner Association (HOA) landscaping guidelines on residential water use

Wentz

Rode

et al. 2016

Water Resources Research

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The association between increasing water intensive land-cover, such as the use of turf grass and trees, and increasing water use is a growing concern for water-stressed arid cities. Appropriate regulatory measures addressing residential landscaping, such as those applied by Homeowner Associations (HOAs), may serve to reduce municipal water use, joining other water-use reducing measures under consideration by arid cities. This research assesses quantitatively the role that Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions (CCRs) applied to landscaping by HOAs play on water consumption. Statistical comparisons and models of n51973 parcels in Goodyear, Arizona, USA, reveal that: HOA yards have less vegetation cover and those households use less peak-season water (July) than those households in non-HOA neighborhoods. This hold true even though the HOA CCRs regulate only the minimum required front-yard vegetation and most residents maintain more than the minimum vegetation level. Furthermore, front-yard landscaping tends to be mimicked in the backyard such that total yard landscaping tracks best with total household water use. Results of the study suggest that HOA landscaping regulations have the potential to reduce peak-season water use by up to 24% if CCRs were to set maximum vegetation regulations rather than minimum and if compliance were enforced. Lowering residential water consumption in this way potentially involves tradeoffs with the cooling effects of vegetation and its consequences on the urban heat island effect, on energy use, and on home values.

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Understanding the social determinants of lawn landscapes: A fine-resolution spatial statistical analysis in suburban Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Cited by 33 publications

References 31 publications

Socio-spatial differentiation in the Sustainable City: A mixed-methods assessment of residential gardens in metropolitan Portland, Oregon, USA

Socio-spatial differentiation in the Sustainable City: A mixed-methods assessment of residential gardens in metropolitan Portland, Oregon, USA

The contribution of the Canary Island date palm (Phoenix canariensis) to the winter diet of frugivores in novel ecosystems

Impact of Homeowner Association (HOA) landscaping guidelines on residential water use

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