• ashok36@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    Lawns are a result of setback requirements imposed because people were building structures right up to and sometimes over the street.

    Yeah, a garden is better than a lawn but most people don’t have the time or care to maintain that. Much easier to just have a mono “crop” that can be relatively easily managed.

    • surewhynotlem@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      Easily managed???

      If that were the goal it’d be clover and moss. No mow lawns are the easiest to manage.

      Grasses are a huge pain, and simply there because British aristocracy had a hard on for them and we never questioned if it was smart.

      • ashok36@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        I said more easily. It’s relative. Also, clover and moss are super location/climate specific. What grows natively in Detroit is going to be much different than Miami or reno or jersey city.

        • surewhynotlem@lemmy.world
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          6 months ago

          I lived in Jersey City for maybe a decade. I think the only two native plants are those trees that smell like cum, and fire hydrants.

          • Cypher@lemmy.world
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            6 months ago

            Some bastard planted those trees all over my city.

            Every spring smells like the aftermath of a pride parade.

      • Rubanski@lemm.ee
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        6 months ago

        Especially because British aristocracy was living in Britain, a pretty rainy place, which helps immensely in cultivating grass

      • TranscendentalEmpire@lemm.ee
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        6 months ago

        Depends on your location and what type of grass you utilize. I for one live in the central plains and have native buffalo grass in the front yard.

        I don’t have to water it, I mow it down about twice a year, and buffalo grass flowers which is great for my leaf cutter bees.

        Grass isn’t inherently a problem, the problem is most people only plant grass that isn’t native to their locality. Something like buffalo grass is arguably more beneficial to the environment than planting a garden that requires more nutrients and water than the local environment can provide.

          • grue@lemmy.world
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            6 months ago

            All the “normal” lawn grasses in the US are native to Europe or Asia.

          • TranscendentalEmpire@lemm.ee
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            6 months ago

            It’s basically the only thing keeping the top soil in any great plains region from blowing away. Buffalo grass in particular is super important at controlling erosion, their roots go down several feet compared to the few inches turf grass provides.

            We need more multifamily homes, but I sincerely think that green spaces are super important, not only for the environment, but for the community as well. There’s no reason people who live in multifamily units shouldn’t have access to green spaces or gardens.

            • vividspecter@lemm.ee
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              6 months ago

              We need more multifamily homes, but I sincerely think that green spaces are super important, not only for the environment, but for the community as well. There’s no reason people who live in multifamily units shouldn’t have access to green spaces or gardens.

              Agreed, they just should be public spaces, instead of everyone having their individual lawn that they don’t know how to utilise in the best way.

    • grue@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      Lawns are a result of setback requirements imposed because people were building structures right up to and sometimes over the street.

      And that’s a problem because…?

      • Zorsith@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        6 months ago

        Height clearance for emergency vehicles (“over the road”), utility servicing, having space to actually have a fire hydrant is important, fire breaks, etc

        • grue@lemmy.world
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          6 months ago

          All that stuff should be accommodated for in the public right-of-way (which includes more than the paved part of the street itself, and usually ends somewhere in the vicinity of the outside edge of the sidewalk). It still doesn’t persuade me that we need setbacks in the private property beyond that.

    • Aux@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      How can you build anything without a permit? Man, America is weird AF…