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Prepared for the Biophilic Cities Network, Winter 2021 Prepared by Alexander Adams, Anne Benaroya, Julia Bevacqua, Lana Marcy, Danielle Liao, Cameron McCoy
Resource description:
Private yards provide an opportunity to bring ecologically rich and biodiverse habitats into the urban fabric of cities. However, in North America yards have been historically dominated by monocultures of turf grass. Monoculture yards require labour intensive care that contribute to greenhouse gas emissions and function as biological deserts with reduced ecological health benefits. Conversely, yards made of species with rich biodiversity provide ecological services, pollinator habitats and require less resource usage. Despite these ecological benefits, the monoculture lawn remains the cultural norm. Local governments are increasingly promoting ecological goals of naturalized ecosystems, yet many of these same local governments’ by-laws and code requirements continue to prohibit and create barriers to the development of naturalized yards.