Lawn Alternatives: Linking Urban Flooding to Lawn Practices by Homeowners 2023
Urban neighborhood settings in and around Chicago

GIS, Fieldwork

Urban stormwater management is an issue that has challenged researchers, urban planners, and water management organizations due to its complex and multifaceted nature. With my research, I plan to uncover some of the nuances behind urban planning which might be changed to benefit urban communities. Within urban settings traditional turfgrass lawns make up a significant portion of greenspace which has an impact on runoff and flood frequency in those areas. I am taking part in an ongoing project focused on understanding how traditional turfgrass lawns might be replaced with alternatives more conducive to reducing flood frequency within urban settings. Additionally, I will be exploring the social component of lawn installation and cultivation by integrating ethnographic interviewing as well as participant observation into my methods. In interviewing and participating with homeowners, I hope to understand how their thoughts and mentalities towards lawn ownership and aesthetic might be informing their lawn management decisions and I expect that some of these mentalities will be shared by other homeowners in the surrounding areas. I predict that there will be several different low-growing grass species that may be more effective in flood abatement in urban neighborhoods and that some of these alternatives will be less expensive and work intensive to maintain for the homeowners. For the social component, I predict that many homeowners will have misguided or misinformed reasons for maintaining their traditional turfgrass lawns and that their mentalities might change if presented with proper information on how their behaviors might impact flood frequencies in their neighborhoods. Furthermore, I predict that archaic or misplaced attachments to traditional turfgrass lawns may be able to be offset by pecuniary incentives in the forms of tax breaks, reduced need for lawn maintenance, or other local governmental programs.

Fieldwork Conditions

Water/Mud