In search for sustainable alternatives to lawns
A large part of Sweden’s green, urban landscape is covered by lawns. Approximately 80 000 ha of maintained grass lawns are part of public courtyards, schoolyards, parks, golf courses, sport fields and traffic environments. Beyond this figure, the lawn is also an essential element in most private vil...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Second cycle, A2E |
| Language: | Swedish Inglés |
| Published: |
2014
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/6576/ |
| _version_ | 1855571035902967808 |
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| author | Hellner, Ameli Vilkénas, Julia |
| author_browse | Hellner, Ameli Vilkénas, Julia |
| author_facet | Hellner, Ameli Vilkénas, Julia |
| author_sort | Hellner, Ameli |
| collection | Epsilon Archive for Student Projects |
| description | A large part of Sweden’s green, urban landscape is covered by lawns. Approximately 80 000 ha of maintained grass lawns are part of public courtyards, schoolyards, parks, golf courses, sport fields and traffic environments. Beyond this figure, the lawn is also an essential element in most private villa-gardens. Lawns have become a universal phenomenon through the dispersion of landscape aesthetics from the Western world. Even though there are many wild living grass species in Scandinavia only a few of these are used in today’s lawns. Lawns in Sweden mostly consist of Festuca rubra, Poa pratensis, Agrostis capillaris, Phleum pratense, Agrostis stolonifera and Lolium perenne. The lawn is a cultural product that is designed to always look the same; lush, green and well maintained. To achieve this aesthetic expression the lawn requires a constant maintaining by mowing and fertilization, which lead to pollution of air and soil. Since the lawn only consists of a few grass species, the dispersion of lawns also leads to a homogenization of plant material and is a threat to urban biodiversity.
Today lawns are seen as a natural part of the urban landscape without questioning their functional, ecological or aesthetic value. To implement other options with high biodiversity in urban environments is a challenge since the homogenized lawn has become a natural part of the urban fabric. This phenomenon derives from globalization, media, social pressure and the idea that nature is wild and must be controlled. The lawn has historically become such a common feature of the urban environment that it is difficult for people to imagine other alternatives. The goal with this essay has been to make a proposal of a demonstration garden at campus Ultuna, showing examples of sustainable alternatives to the lawn. Hopefully the demonstration garden will be used as inspiration for a change of the classic lawn in urban environments. Our final design proposal consists of eight examples of ecological, social and economically sustainable alternatives to lawn. The alternative lawns are suited to the habitat on the site, has a dynamic aesthetic expression and consists of native flora. The demonstration garden has been designed as a conceptual project that will hopefully be implemented in the near future. |
| format | Second cycle, A2E |
| id | RepoSLU6576 |
| institution | Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences |
| language | Swedish Inglés |
| publishDate | 2014 |
| publishDateSort | 2014 |
| record_format | eprints |
| spelling | RepoSLU65762014-06-16T08:41:35Z https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/6576/ In search for sustainable alternatives to lawns Hellner, Ameli Vilkénas, Julia Landscape architecture A large part of Sweden’s green, urban landscape is covered by lawns. Approximately 80 000 ha of maintained grass lawns are part of public courtyards, schoolyards, parks, golf courses, sport fields and traffic environments. Beyond this figure, the lawn is also an essential element in most private villa-gardens. Lawns have become a universal phenomenon through the dispersion of landscape aesthetics from the Western world. Even though there are many wild living grass species in Scandinavia only a few of these are used in today’s lawns. Lawns in Sweden mostly consist of Festuca rubra, Poa pratensis, Agrostis capillaris, Phleum pratense, Agrostis stolonifera and Lolium perenne. The lawn is a cultural product that is designed to always look the same; lush, green and well maintained. To achieve this aesthetic expression the lawn requires a constant maintaining by mowing and fertilization, which lead to pollution of air and soil. Since the lawn only consists of a few grass species, the dispersion of lawns also leads to a homogenization of plant material and is a threat to urban biodiversity. Today lawns are seen as a natural part of the urban landscape without questioning their functional, ecological or aesthetic value. To implement other options with high biodiversity in urban environments is a challenge since the homogenized lawn has become a natural part of the urban fabric. This phenomenon derives from globalization, media, social pressure and the idea that nature is wild and must be controlled. The lawn has historically become such a common feature of the urban environment that it is difficult for people to imagine other alternatives. The goal with this essay has been to make a proposal of a demonstration garden at campus Ultuna, showing examples of sustainable alternatives to the lawn. Hopefully the demonstration garden will be used as inspiration for a change of the classic lawn in urban environments. Our final design proposal consists of eight examples of ecological, social and economically sustainable alternatives to lawn. The alternative lawns are suited to the habitat on the site, has a dynamic aesthetic expression and consists of native flora. The demonstration garden has been designed as a conceptual project that will hopefully be implemented in the near future. I Sverige täcker gräsmattan över 80 000 hektar och är del av offentliga gårdar, skolgårdar, parker, golfbanor, idrottsfält och trafikmiljöer. Gräsmattor är inte bara vanliga i Sverige utan har blivit ett globalt fenomen genom spridning av landskapsestetik från västvärlden. Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka gräsmattan ur ett kulturellt, estetiskt och ekologiskt perspektiv samt att hitta hållbara alternativ till den konventionella gräsmattan. Trots att det i Skandinaven finns många olika inhemska gräsarter så går endast ett fåtal av dessa att finna i den vanliga gräsmattan. Gräsmattor i Sverige består främst av arterna Festuca rubra, Poa pratensis, Agrostis capillaris, Phleum pratense, Agrostis stolonifera och Lolium perenne . På grund av gräsmattans homogena artsammansättning har den en negativ påverkan på den urbana biodiversiteten. Gräsmattan är en kulturbetingad produkt som är designad att alltid se ut på ett visst sätt; frodig och kortklippt. För att uppnå detta estetiska uttryck krävs ett ständigt underhåll i form av klippning och gödsling vilket leder till föroreningar av luft och mark. Att implementera andra alternativ med hög biologisk mångfald är en utmaning då den homogena gräsmattan har blivit ett självklart inslag i den urbana miljön. Detta fenomen kommer från globalisering, media, socialt tryck och uppfattningen om naturen som någonting vilt som bör kontrolleras. Gräsmattan har genom historien blivit ett så vanligt inslag i stadsmiljön att det är svårt för människor att föreställa sig andra alternativ. Målet med uppsatsen var att rita ett förslag på en demonstrationsträdgård på Campus Ultuna som visar exempel på hållbara alternativ till gräsmattan. Tanken är att demonstrationsträdgården ska användas som inspiration till en förändring av den klassiska gräsmattan i urbana miljöer. Vårt slutgiltiga designförslag består av åtta exempel på ekologiska, sociala och ekonomiskt hållbara alternativ till gräsmattan. De alternativa gräsmattorna är anpassade till habitatet på platsen, har ett dynamiskt estetiskt uttryck och består av inhemsk floran. Demonstrationsträdgården har designats som ett konceptuellt projekt som förhoppningsvis kommer att genomföras inom den närmaste framtiden. 2014-06-05 Second cycle, A2E NonPeerReviewed application/pdf sv https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/6576/1/hellner_a_vilkenas_j_140605.pdf Hellner, Ameli and Vilkénas, Julia, 2014. In search for sustainable alternatives to lawns : connecting research and landscape design. Second cycle, A2E. Uppsala: (NL, NJ) > Dept. of Urban and Rural Development (LTJ, LTV) > Dept. of Urban and Rural Development <https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/view/divisions/OID-595.html> urn:nbn:se:slu:epsilon-s-3282 eng |
| spellingShingle | Landscape architecture Hellner, Ameli Vilkénas, Julia In search for sustainable alternatives to lawns |
| title | In search for sustainable alternatives to lawns |
| title_full | In search for sustainable alternatives to lawns |
| title_fullStr | In search for sustainable alternatives to lawns |
| title_full_unstemmed | In search for sustainable alternatives to lawns |
| title_short | In search for sustainable alternatives to lawns |
| title_sort | in search for sustainable alternatives to lawns |
| topic | Landscape architecture |
| url | https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/6576/ https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/6576/ |