Finding a Workable Lawn Alternative Using Ethnographic Interviewing

Keywords: Urban planning, Sociology, Ethnography, Interviewing, Green space
Abstract Type: Poster Abstract

Abstract

An urgent need to integrate functional greenspaces into urban planning was highlighted by the United Nations, which proclaimed 2020-2030 “the decade of ecological restoration with an emphasis on cities”. As one of the most prevalent urban green spaces, residential lawns represent a huge untapped potential for restoration. However, motivations behind traditional turfgrass installation and cultivation practices are difficult to ascertain as they vary greatly among homeowners. Therefore, understanding homeowner’s feelings and perceptions is imperative in identifying successful strategies to compel homeowners to change their lawn maintenance behaviors. Maintaining the traditional homogeneous lawn requires homeowners to consistently mow, water, and apply fertilizers and pesticides to their greenspaces and each practice carries environmental harm. To better understand what drives homeowner lawn practices, we conducted ethnographic interviews of 25 residential home owners in Evanston, IL and Chicago, IL over 3 years (2023,2024,2025).Once interviews are concluded and transcribed, the transcriptions will be coded to highlight similarities and differences between interviewee responses. Coding creates connections between interviewee responses and homeowner thoughts and perceptions by illuminating trends between separate interviewees, allowing us to detect any broad similarities and differences between responses. We predict that conformity to traditional aesthetic standards will be a strong motivator behind lawn care practices. Preliminary results suggest that incentives of reduced labor and financial investment to maintain a traditional lawn will have the strongest appeal towards homeowners considering a lawn alternative. Finally, a lack of accurate botanical information increases apprehension surrounding deviating from the standard lawn species.